Self-Awareness for Everyone: Recent Episodes
MJ Blehart
Self-Awareness for Everyone examines tools for applied guidance for mindfulness. Mindfulness is the tool available to EVERYONE that we could employ to take what control we can of our lives. I guide you through easy-to-use mindfulness tools, conscious reality creation, and other options for optimizing our life experience.
Thinky-thoughts and brain weasels defined Thinky-thoughts originate in the subconscious, usually attached to memory. Another form of thinky-thoughts is not based in subconscious memory, but on your beliefs, values, and habits. Brain weasels, squirrels in the brain, and the like are chittering voices that will tell you how much you suck, what you’re not good at, and all sorts of similar things that aren’t true. They usually are the spawn of your comfort-desiring ego and often reflect the voices of sometimes well-intentioned friends and loved ones. Passive conscious awareness Everyone is of three minds. One that’s unconscious, one that’s subconscious, and one that’s conscious. The unconscious mind is purely automated functions of your body. The subconscious mind is almost entirely run by rote and routine. The conscious mind is your conscious awareness of yourself. The conscious mind can be both passive and active. The passive is when you are aware of yourself and your surroundings – but not doing anything to actively engage. The active is when you practice mindfulness. It’s asking questions about what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, what you intend, and what you are or aren’t doing. Passive conscious awareness is where thinky-thoughts live. Because while they originate in the subconscious via memory, belief, value, and/or habit – they can only be engaged by the conscious mind. Thinky-thoughts are the road not taken and other uncertainties Thinky-thoughts might originate in the subconscious with memory, belief, value, and habit. But they’re not necessarily focused on the past. They can also be placed in the present and the future. They tend to go deep – hence why I call them thinky-thoughts. What thinky-thoughts aren’t is the here and now. They’re what was, they are alternative notions of what is, and notions and ideas of what may be. But they’re not the present, the here and now, or your true reality. The rodent thoughts of brain weasels most often chitter, squeak, and cause second-guessing, self-esteem issues, and a sense of unworthiness. They’re obnoxious, annoying, and unkind. And they are not yours – they are lying liars that lie. Employing mindfulness Active conscious awareness. That is genuine mindfulness. Mindfulness is active conscious awareness both of your inner mindset/headspace/psyche self and the world around you. Rather than passive and wholly internalized, mindfulness uses your 6 senses to naturally engage and bridge the internal with the external. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Identifying thinky-thoughts vs brain weasels is easy to do via mindfulness. Dealing with each takes the same process, though brain weasels are arguably easier to destroy since they are not your creation. If you have any chittering, annoying notions floating about your mind, sharing doubt and uncertainty that you’re rather sure isn’t yours, those are brain weasels. If you have notions based in subconscious beliefs, values, and habits, or tied to memories – those are thinky-thoughts. To deal with either, you just need to set-aside 5 minutes. Spend 2 minutes deep breathing to centered. Look at the brain-weasel or thinky-thought. Ask yourself: · How does this make me think? · How does this make me feel? · What does this make me feel? · Is it mine, or an outside influence? Asking and answering these, here and now, tells you what you’re working with. And from there, more active conscious awareness – mindfulness – will let you make change to address, remove, or otherwise deal with these. Repeat as necessary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Am I the only one who struggles with things? Some of the things of this nature that I struggle with are tangibles. The biggest is my health. But for many reasons, the primary reasons behind my weight issues, thus, are intangible. This stems from the underlying struggles ranging from philosophical – who, what, where, how, and why am I; to societal and personal – am I good enough, will this make them like me more, will I be more acceptable to him/her/them if I’m another way, and so on. Couple all that with ongoing mental and emotional struggles like depression, self-worth issues, self-value questions, and the like – and these things are many and easily overwhelming. Logically, I know I’m not the only one who struggles with these things. Everybody struggles with something Tangible or intangible, everybody struggles. Big or small, important and unimportant, everybody is struggling with things. And the reason is simple – because you’re human. There are three absolute certainties of life for everybody. You’re born, you live, you die. Ultimately, you and I are alone. And alone can lead to loneliness - which is why we seek connections with friends, family, strangers, and so on. Recognizing, acknowledging, and embracing our struggles Virtually every good or service you can buy is sold to you on the premise that it’ll lessen a given struggle. When it comes to your health, wellness, and wellbeing – and struggles therein – it’s in you. That doesn’t mean you have no choice but to go it alone. Lots of programs, books, medical professionals, therapists, videos, and more can offer insight, assistance, and help with this. Embracing change, growth, and evolution The one and only constant in the entire universe is change. It can, will, and does occur all the time. This in and of itself can be deeply distressing to people. Things are a certain way, have felt to always be that certain way – and when they aren’t, uncertainty is disconcerting. This is the source of probably almost – if not all - of our struggles, tangible and intangible. We need to talk about this more This gets shunted off to taboo, impropriety, and other notions of inappropriateness so that we don’t discuss it. I believe that the more we recognize, acknowledge, and embrace our struggles to one another – the more we’re empowered to work with them, together and individually. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This week’s tool is super simple. Do something extra kind and nice for yourself. One day this week, set aside time for yourself (and if it will feel good, include a loved one/loved ones). Treat yourself to an exotic desert, a delicious meal, a movie, a play, time in a hammock or on the beach, or something equally relaxing and pleasant. No phone, no tablet, no connections to the outside world. Escape and do something that makes you feel good, content, and free of struggles. For however long you allow yourself – simply be in that space. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What if rather than pursuing happiness we’re seeking conscious awareness? The pursuit of happiness is a notion often repeated in stories both fictional and nonfictional, inspirational quotes, and from lots of sources you encounter frequently. All advertising aims to sell you and me happiness. Buy these shoes, get that car, drink that soda, and happiness is yours for the low low price of your conscious awareness. Because that’s what I think the ongoing, never-ending pursuit of happiness is distracting you and me from. Genuine, active, conscious awareness. What if rather than happiness we’re pursuing conscious awareness? Who is in your head, heart, and soul? You. Only you. And that means you’re the only one who can know your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. Not only know but truly, genuinely be with. And beyond that? Change. When you’re mindful you are empowered. That empowerment allows you to take control of your life experiences. From there, you can do things that you think well of, that feel good, have the best of intentions, and are marked by actions you are content with and even proud of. And that – when you get down to it – is happiness, right? How is the pursuit of happiness a distraction? When your team wins the prize, or your celebrity gets the coveted award – you’re happy for them. More than that, you feel as if their victory, their win, their happiness is yours, too. But is it? Did you get the prize? Is your life in any way improved from the win? No. Hence, you’re distracted by the game, celebrity, and pursuit of victory/happiness they are undertaking. Chances are you don’t think about yourself at all when you focus on the game, the celebrity trials and tribulations, and so on. Happiness in and of itself is limited. Why? Because you cannot always be happy. Sure, you can mostly be happy, and have a happy attitude – but being happy? That’s fleeting and impermanent. Should it even be a pursuit? Pursuit tends to evoke notions of escape, chase, competition, lack, scarcity, and insufficiency. What you are after is trying to get away or hard to find or you must get it before another, right? This is simply not true. You and I live in an abundant universe. There’s not just enough – there’s more than enough. You are here. That’s all you need to know to recognize that you’re worthy and deserving of conscious awareness, happiness, or any other good you desire to have in your life. And you need not pursue it to have it. Because conscious awareness is already yours. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Do something that makes you happy once a day, every day, for the next week. Don’t overanalyze it, don’t debate over and over – just do something that makes you happy – whether it’s big or small. That means take a nap, eat ice cream, walk in later, have sex, read a book, or do anything at all that makes you happy. Make a conscious effort to do something that makes you happy, that doesn’t require pursuit, great expense, or anything else. Act on it and do something to make you happy every day for the next week. Write it all down. How do you feel? Does doing something that makes you happy every day feel empowering? Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Change is inevitable, and impermanence is reality The one and only constant in the Universe is change. Change can, will, and does occur all the time. No two moments are the same. Alike, maybe, but the same? No. That’s how frequently change occurs. You might not believe it. But because people tend to resist, combat, and overall won’t accept change and the reality of it – tons of conflict on many levels is the result. A great deal of this is based on ignoring or denying the reality of change and impermanence. You might not be familiar with impermanence – but it’s a useful notion to know. What is impermanence? Impermanence is defined by dictionary.com as: Noun the fact or quality of being temporary or short-lived. Why is it good to recognize and embrace impermanence? Think of it this way – if the Universe is nearly 14 billion years old, the Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and the average human lifespan is 80 years – human life is distinctly impermanent. During the span of your life, people, places, things, experiences, and everything else you can imagine will come and go. Good, bad, or otherwise – nothing lasts forever. Embracing this truth can be empowering and massively positive because it opens you to better handling when things go badly. Nobody at all has good days all the time. Some of these seem bigger and more impactful than others. And they will be. That’s partially due to attachment and comfort zones. Attachment is when you are unable and/or unwilling to let go of something. It might be seemingly small. Comfort zones are places of extreme familiarity and the impression of stability that might not truly be comfortable. Recognizing impermanence Everything and everyone you know changes. It’s a constant, a given, a universal fact. Slow or fast, change can, will, and does occur. All the time. Thus, nothing in your life – nothing you know, feel, believe, or value – is unchangeable. That’s impermanence. And recognizing impermanence opens you to more easily roll with the punches in the face of change and its inevitability. Why? Because since impermanence recognizes that everything everywhere changes – you empower yourself to be better able to work with and through change. This is a positive notion because it means the bad, negative, unpleasant things that happen will pass. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This week’s tool requires you to let go of something. Choose an item you have that doesn’t truly serve you. I don’t mean a useful tool, a special paperweight you got from your grandfather, or anything that you frequently recognize. Choose something you have but barely notice, often forget about or hasn’t been useful to you for some time. Give it away. Don’t sell it, give it away. You can donate it somewhere or just randomly pass it to a stranger. If you can give away that item anonymously, do so. Either give away 3 items on 3 different days this week or multiple items all at once. Release anything you’ve been at least partly attached to but aren’t anymore. How does it feel to detach from this mostly useless thing? Will you remember giving it away in a week or two? This lesson in impermanence can be deeply freeing and empowering to you. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Focus on what you can’t control, you cede your power I’m not saying it’s not good to have a general idea of what is happening in the world at large – but when that’s your primary focus, you shouldn’t be surprised when it has all your time and attention. Then you find you have less control over your life than you desire, and/or you feel like you’ve little to no control. The primary issue is this – what you focus the most on is what you give your attention to. That means that if you focus on people, places, and/or things outside of yourself, you lose focus on yourself. Control begins with active conscious awareness Active conscious awareness is mindfulness. This is the act of being present, here and now, and aware of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. When you focus on your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions, you can see if they suit you – or not. And if not – you now have the power to change them. That’s empowerment. Focus on yourself, and you empower yourself. However, this probably leads to this question: Isn’t this selfish? NO. Why not? Because self-care and self-awareness are not selfish. Focus within versus without Focus on what’s outside of you - the people, places, and things you have little to no control over – and you lose sight of yourself. When you focus within, however, you empower yourself. That’s because when you focus within, you get clarity of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. Focusing within empowers you to take control of these and align them to best suit your life. Why is this important? In a culture where the idea of being “woke” has been weaponized to suggest that such awareness is bad should tell you everything about why this is important. Because the people “in power” – knowing that the truth is that it’s utterly fake – don’t want “woke” people. “Woke” people are awake, aware, and empowered. When you turn your focus inwards, you gain clarity of your true needs, desires, likes, dislikes, and so on. Focus within empowers you to change what you need/desire to change. Empowerment is limitless. Everyone has the right to it, and almost all lack, scarcity, and insufficiency you encounter is artificial and intentionally disempowering. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This week’s tool requires you to choose yourself. For the next week, don’t watch any TV news programs. Avoid CNN, BBC News, the major networks, local news, all of it. Do not watch any news media. Additionally – set a time limit for how long you allow yourself to surf any social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok – limit yourself to no more than 5-minute blocks on any of these sites – and try to keep this to no more than 3 times a day. Then, at the end of the day, write down if you notice less tension, less stress, and any increase in your ability to focus on your life. At the end of the week, if you can see a difference in how you’re thinking and feeling, and that you have greater focus within – consider continuing this for another week. Repeat as often as it feels right or becomes a habit. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Choosing to change begins with recognition and acknowledgment The other day, I came to a stark realization. I needed to actively change. As always, it’s a choice of approach and direction for you to make. I am no longer aligned with the reality of my life when it comes to certain habits and beliefs. Passive recognition and acceptance My story. On a personal level, I had become so comfortable in my friendships and how they worked – that I missed that they changed. They changed without me. This is neither good nor bad. It’s just the truth. And it’s taken me quite a long time to recognize and acknowledge it and what it is. Pre-pandemic, I had friends who were like family to me. Through no fault, no mistakes, and no determinable thing – those friendships changed. That’s because we all changed – and those changes made us different enough that the once-close friendships shifted. Recognizing when you need to change Change happens. It’s the only constant in the universe. I am in no way blaming anyone or anything for this. And to anyone reading this who I consider a friend – you know I mean no disrespect, but you aren’t a close confidant of that nature. But the major realization I’ve had is this - I have not let go of that comfort zone. What does that mean? It means I need to change. The illusion of the old friends who are like family, and close confidants, needs to give way to the true reality that is my life. This is not a negative I know that this might read as negative. But it’s not. I’m not lamenting a loss, blaming anyone or anything, or seeking sympathy. I’m sharing that I’m recognizing that while the reality of my life has changed – I need to change with it. When I came to this realization, that the comfort zone of my friendships has changed – I felt elated. This didn’t create longing, sadness, or any negative emotion. I didn’t feel bad when I realized the nature of the friendships I have aren’t like older, but no longer close friendships. Instead, I felt free. It was a relief to recognize and acknowledge this. The world changed, and the people I walk it with changed, too. The confusion caused by this false comfort zone has lifted. And that’s tremendous, empowering positivity for me. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This might not apply to you now but might be in the future. Write out your answers. Think about something that you did regularly a year ago. Maybe it was time spent with friends or family, a regular activity like going to a gym, or something of that nature. How do you remember it feeling? Are you still doing it now? Is this activity what and how it was a year ago? If so – find another to analyze. If not – why not? What changed? Was it you or was it extenuating circumstances? Now that you know it’s changed have you made changes to alter the impact this had on you and your life? If not – do you need to make changes, and if so – what does that look like? This information goes a long way toward greater self-awareness and working with rather than against the inevitability of change. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your mental health should not be neglected Where do you find the good in yourself? The good in yourself is abundant. And that’s a reflection of the truth that you and I live in an abundant Universe. There is more than enough good to go around. Everyone deserves care, kindness, compassion, empathy, and love. Your true desire is along that line. Mental health (emotional health and spiritual health, too) gets insufficient attention. But self-awareness depends on your knowledge of your health, wellness, and wellbeing. And only you can recognize how that looks. What is resistance? To quote Pressfield directly, “Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. … If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.” Resistance is a force that stands against your work to be your best self. It frequently manifests as procrastination, excuses, indecision, and anything and everything that keeps you from doing your work. Resistance and mental health Resistance is a product of the ego. The ego, as I envision it, is a construct between your subconscious and conscious self that you project to the world at large - but also reflect back to yourself. From The War of Art, “Our job in this life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it.” To be who you are requires fighting Resistance. You’ve done it before – even if you didn’t call it this. As such – you can do it again. This battle will bring up issues of self-awareness that directly impact your mental, emotional, and spiritual health, wellness, and wellbeing. Fear again Fear is often the most impactful isness on our conscious awareness. Yet it’s largely intangible. One of the most recognizable elements of Resistance is fear. Again, from The War of Art, “Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance.” “Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.” Do you recognize Resistance and how combatting it empowers you? This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Today we’re going to take something you need or desire to do and chunk it down as part of combatting Resistance. Even if you don’t have something of this nature in front of you now, you can use this tool going forward. Let’s put this into step. 1. Identify the thing you need and/or desire to do 2. What are its constituent parts? 3. What needs to be done immediately, what can be delayed, and what can be put off? 4. Set times to accomplish the individual elements 5. Do the work Chunking anything down that you face – even small things – can empower you to get them done with less resistance. By doing this, you beat Resistance – and that goes a long, long way towards improving your overall health – mental, emotional, spiritual, and even physical. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
No matter the obstacles, you always have a choice Very rarely do you get to go from point ‘A’ to point 'B’ smoothly and obstacle free. And every time you come across challenges and obstacles in your life, you can give up, push through, or try another way. That doesn’t always feel true. There are plenty of times when it feels like you’re stuck, trapped, and without recourse. The trouble is, you always have choices – but they’re not always welcome, good, or desirable choices. What is empowerment? It’s too easy to take the meaning of being empowered as being given power by another. Power given to you by anyone who is not you is artificial. Sure, there’s a degree of power to being a parent, a guardian, a boss, a teacher, and the like. But that’s not about power as much as it is about authority. Empowerment is claiming your power to live your life on your terms. It’s never a one-time matter. You Leaving it to random chance disempowers you You can’t count on getting lucky when you allow random happenstance to decide your fate. By not choosing, you cede your power to random chance, circumstance, or perhaps fate. But when you decide not to decide or choose not to choose – you are disempowered. Choice is like any other muscle in your body. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. Hence, the more you actively choose - the more choices you find you can make. Give up, push through, find another way? I believe that every choice presents these options. No matter what the choice might be – these three options always exist. Giving up is a choice. Pushing through can be fraught with challenges. Finding another way is the other option. Right, wrong, and other constructs When it comes to choices, it often feels like there’s a right choice and a wrong choice. When you place these in universal moral fabrics – it’s easy to lose sight of what matters most when it comes to choices. But the constructs of the given extremes aren’t so important when all is said and done. Choice, even in the face of obstacles, empowers you. When you’re empowered, you can help empower others. When more people are empowered – things improve for everyone. You always have a choice – even poor choices are still choices. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Is there an obstacle you have in your life presently? Even if there isn’t, you can use this exercise to analyze your available choices. Write down the issue/problem/obstacle. Now, write and answer the following? · Should I give up? What will happen/be the consequence if I choose this? · Do I push through? What will happen/be the consequence if I choose this? · Can I find another way? What options are there? What will happen/be the consequence if I choose this? This will not just provide clarity of your options/choices. It might help you decide what to choose and why to choose it. Whatever you do – the choice is yours to make. Author Website Email Instagram Facebook LinkedIn TikTok Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Blame distracts and deflects and solves nothingFor every ill in the world today – you can find someone to blame. It’s very easy to do.Most politicians blame their opposition for all our woes. Business leaders blame laws and regulations for poor wages and the lousy treatment of employees. Religious leaders blame other religions and atheists for everything wrong in our world today.What’s more, in the process of self-improvement, no matter if it’s mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual, blame is an easy go-to. The problem is that blame disempowers us. Why? Because how can you fix something you take zero responsibility or zero accountability for? Blame disempowersWhen you place blame, you shunt away your power. It’s not mindful. Why? Because it closes the door to change and control.For example – I could blame my depression on my parents and their divorce. My depression can then be blamed for my weight issues. Then, I can blame my weight issues for my self-esteem problems. My self-esteem problems can then be blamed for my depression.Blame disempowers by creating endless loops of deflection. Progress doesn’t get made and nothing gets done. We disempower ourselves by finding and placing blame.Oppression of the massesLook at American politics and some of the extremism that’s become increasingly public over the past few years. Hatred and fear of certain groups have forged new ways to oppress them. And because when all is said and done, we’re all one – that oppresses us all.But what you give, you get. It reflects back on us - and then ALL are oppressed. Because the truth is that a select few empower themselves via disempowerment of the masses. Blame is an outstanding tool for just that. The solution is accountability and responsibility rather than blameThe power of accountability is that it empowers. When we are accountable and responsible for ourselves, we can work with that and make adjustments and changes.Nobody but you can think, feel, or act for you. When you admit to a screw-up, take responsibility for it, and be accountable, it will almost surely suck to admit it. There is pain and discomfort in this. However, after that momentary pain and discomfort, now you can change, alter, and/or fix it.While being accountable can come with initial pain and discomfort – and the fear of suffering from it makes it even more unappealing – once you pass that, your conscious awareness lets you work on the issue/problem/matter/whatever.Blame distracts and deflects and solves nothing. Accountability and taking responsibility are the key to repair, alteration, and change. It starts with every one of us individually, and it can positively impact our health, wellness, and wellbeing on every conceivable level.This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool:For the next week, make a conscious effort to pay attention to both what you think and feel and what you do and say. Mind your inner dialogue and pay attention for blame.When you find you are blaming something or someone for anything at all, write down what it is and who/what you’re blaming.Then, analyze if there’s anything you can do about it – and how you can be accountable and responsible. If it’s something way outside of your control – write it down and be accountable for it by choosing to let it go.At the end of the week, see how you feel and if being more accountable and responsible is, in fact, empowering. Author Website: https://mjblehart.comEmail: author@mjblehart.comInstagramTwitterFacebookBlogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.comCover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirationsLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gratitude is the key to everything good and great It should come as no surprise given that we live in a fear-based society. Often, the fear of missing out (what has been renamed/rebranded as FOMO), fear of suffering, and fear of appearing to be lacking are beamed into your brain everywhere you turn. Radio, social media, tv, billboards, and everywhere there’s advertising will tell you if you don’t buy this product or that service, you’ll miss out, suffer, and appear lacking. The truth is that, for the most part, we need a lot fewer goods and services than we think we do. Sure, it can be nice to have those things – but at what cost? People stress out, overwork, and freak out because of the suffering they most fear that will result from missing out or appearing to lack. Suffering is what you most fear It doesn’t matter what the fear is – most fear is less about the thought or feeling you’re afraid of and more about suffering resulting from it. More often than not, the suffering you fear is far worse than what actually will occur. Fear of suffering tends to focus on worst-case scenarios. Since worst-case scenarios are literally the worst – of course, you envision horrific suffering as a result. The power of gratitude Why is gratitude so powerful? Because whether given or received, gratitude is ALWAYS positive. Always. Real, genuine, true gratitude is a blend of thought, feeling, intent, and action that’s positive. It is one of the only things I can think of that’s a construct of every element of mindfulness. Let’s say you’re grateful for a person. Thinking about them makes you feel good and thanking them (action) shares that they make you feel that way (intent). Given or received, gratitude is positive. Your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions align to face the positive end of the flexible cylinder between the extremes (negative and positive). Express what you’re grateful for frequently There’s a simple, universal truth at work here. When you give gratitude, you get gratitude. When you express gratitude for the things you have – tangible or intangible – you draw more things to you to be grateful for. This is conscious reality creation in its purest, most unadulterated form. When you see lack, scarcity, and insufficiency – and give it energy and attention – it will dominate your consciousness. But when you use your mindfulness to be thankful, here and now, for what you have – that is abundance energy that will draw more abundance to you. Think, feel, and say thank you frequently, joyfully, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly. Allow gratitude to flow – because giving it will get it in return. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Get something that you can carry around within you a pocket, your bra, a purse, or whatever have you. A stone, a coin with meaning to you, or something similar to these. Throughout your day, take ahold of whatever that thing is, and think of something you’re grateful for in that moment. Aloud, or not, say, “I’m grateful for insert tangible or intangible thing here. THANK YOU.” This gratitude serves as a physical reminder you can use at will to express gratitude. After a week of this practice, see if you notice any improvement in your overall day-to-day experiences. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Life is a unique challenge for everyone How we all live is a choice. We can make it as often or seldom as we desire. In my experience, I’ve come to recognize 3 ways to live. There are variations, and each of these will be shifted around – but they’re inescapable. · Let life live you · Curl up in a ball and await death. · Take the wheel, drive life, and go for a ride The three ways to live life · Let life live you. Rote, routine, subconscious living. You just go with the flow and let the routines carry you. General existence. This is largely neutral. What does that mean? It means that people who let life live them go through the motions, go about a daily routine, and seldom make any choices that might rock the boat much. Letting life live you involves falling into routines and making little to no effort to leave them. · Curl up in a ball and await death. Despair, depression, half-conscious living. You tend to see all as dark and dismal and suffer. Expectation of death and despair, literally and metaphorically. This is largely negative. This can be literal, or not, but I think we all know someone who appears to live life in this manner. People who curl up in a ball and await death tend to complain about everything. They are miserable. Many of the people who fall into this category are frequent victims. · Take the wheel, drive life, and go for a ride. Conscious awareness, mindful living. You make choices and decisions and direct your routines. Seek to work with potential and possibilities. This is largely positive. In choosing to live life in this way, we work to be in the here-and-now, explore the awareness of our thoughts, recognize the feelings we feel, and take intentional actions. We decide who we want to be, what we want to do, and how we can manifest it into being. How you live life will shift and change along the way There are circumstances we encounter that will, at least temporarily, take control out of our hands. Losing jobs, deaths, break-ups, and other situations involving other people and circumstances will impact us. This will shift how we live life. Since the only things that we can control are our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we get to choose how long these situations will impact us. There is a catch to this – but it’s an utterly false narrative. The catch is that when you choose this, some will call you selfish. People will think because you’re living more mindfully, you’re being selfish, and not a productive part of society or doing what’s expected of you. But this is a false narrative. Why? Because who but you is living in your body, your head, heart, and soul? Only you. And if you desire to control your life experience at all, the only thing you can control is how you choose to live in the motion of day-to-day life. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: At the end of the day, before you go to bed. Take 2-5 minutes to do the following: 1. Take 3 deep breaths in and let them out slowly to focus yourself. 2. What did you do today by rote and routine? Write it out - big or small, nothing is insignificant. 3. Write down what choices and decisions you made today. Large or small, write them out. 4. Were there opportunities or situations where you didn’t make a decision or choice – but could have? Write that down. 5. Look at what you wrote. Would you say life lived you, you spent the day awaiting death, or you drove life for the majority of the day? Odds are, you did a little of both letting life live you and driving life. Hopefully, you didn’t spend the day miserable. But if you did – write down what you can maybe do tomorrow to have a better day. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We are all of 3 minds All of us are made up of subconscious, conscious, and ego. But what are they? Our subconscious minds are akin to a computer hard drive. They are where our operating systems, data storage, and programs are saved The Subconscious is your OS Our operating systems are our values and beliefs. They’re the foundation on which we run. And like computer operating systems, sometimes we’re running an outdated OS. Old values and beliefs are in our subconscious. And until we seek them out to replace or remove them – they are still driving our system. Our data storage is thoughts and feelings that might be disconnected until a program or the operating system engages them. Mindfulness is conscious awareness Being consciously aware means being mindful. Mindfulness is conscious awareness of our inner mindset/headspace/psyche self. It requires being aware, in the present. That self-awareness comes down to our thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. When we know what we’re thinking, what and how we’re feeling, what we’re doing and the intentions behind it – we’re consciously aware. Ego is our outward projection and inward reflection What is the ego? It’s how we project ourselves to the world without. But it’s also a mirror reflection of who we believe we are – warts and all. Often, the ego has been largely constructed via subconscious habits, beliefs, and values. It’s a construct because it’s not a product of the here and now, and thus not truly who, what, where, how, and why we are. Unlike our conscious mindset/headspace/psyche selves. Self-awareness gives the conscious mind control Every single person on Planet Earth can control only one thing. Themselves. We each get just one chance around in these bodies. One life experience. Shouldn’t we give ourselves what control we can to make it as amazing as possible? When we get deep into it, all that we can control is ourselves, here and now. More specifically – we can control our mindset/headspace/psyche. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: To define our subconscious mind and our ego, we must be consciously aware. The only way to see the beliefs, values, and habits of our subconscious – and the inward and outward projections of our ego – we must seek them. This is one way to do that. This is a 5-minute exercise. Before you begin, choose what you want to learn – the root of a value, belief, habit, or projection inwards and outwards 1. Go somewhere you can be alone, and uninterrupted 2. Seat yourself comfortably. 3. Take three slow, deep breaths in and out. Deep breaths to calm, center, and focus yourself. 4. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Start it and close your eyes. 5. Take three more slow, deep breaths in and out. 6. For the subconscious, focus on belief, value, or habit as you know it now. Dig into it, feel it out, and let yourself sink into its depths. Be present in yourself as you do this 7. For the ego, focus on “I AM” statements that you make to yourself or others. 8. At the end of the time, write out what you have learned. This can unearth some not-so-pleasant memories. But the easiest way to change what’s in your subconscious mind is to root out what’s already there. To change your ego, you need to be conscious of what you’re projecting and reflecting. Use this tool with care, as often as is practical for you. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Everyone seeks to choose their own life path I’ve been working on sharing the power of conscious reality creation and mindfulness with the world. To do this, I’ve made numerous life choices for the path I intend to walk, the blogs I write, and even the journeys of my fictional characters in the sci-fi and fantasy I create. All of this comes down to Pathwalking – my life philosophy for how to choose your life experience – one step at a time. Problem: You feel dissatisfied with your life. You feel like your life is not yours to control. It feels as if you are on a hamster wheel or otherwise spinning endlessly with no set plan or direction. Solution: Practical applications of Pathwalking to make choices and decisions to guide your life experience how you desire it to go. Go with the flow When I began to develop Pathwalking, I came to see life as a flowing river. Like the river, it’s not always a simple flow. Sometimes there are rocks, rapids, natural and artificial obstacles, and so on. As you flow in the river of life, situations, experiences, and seasons change. Some change is natural, some artificial. And there is little to nothing you can do about this because change is inevitable. Pathwalking, like Buddhism, recognizes the impermanence of life. When you don’t go with the flow of positive, evolutionary change, you have three other options. 1. Resist and be drowned 2. Eventually, be swept into the stream 3. Swim What is Pathwalking – and what can it do for you? And what IS Pathalking? Mindfulness. Employing conscious awareness here and now to know yourself, in the present – the only time that’s really real – and with that knowledge, seek, find, and walk a path of your choosing. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: I’ve presented a tool just like this one before. But it’s such a powerful tool that it’s worth repeating. I’m sharing my 5 Questions for Mindfulness here. Set aside 2-5 minutes today to answer the questions. To begin, pause from whatever else you’re doing. Take three slow, deep breaths in and out. Then, write out each question and the answer that comes to you in the moment. · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing? · What are my intentions? These questions can only be genuinely answered in the present. The more you ask them – even if you don’t write them out – the more you put yourself in touch with yourself. See how that self-awareness impacts all your choices going forward. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You won’t fail if you don’t share what you create Sharing your work can be terrifying. It can feel like you’re putting yourself out there to be judged. Despite all that I do – I still fear that I’ll fail. And that’s deterred me multiple times along the way from acting to grow my life and expand my art how I desire to. Yet it’s impossible to succeed if you don’t do the thing and share the thing. There are tons of stories about people getting a win handed to them, succeeding wildly on the first try, and being so damned gifted that failure was never even possible. But the reality is that most, if not all, put in time, effort, work, and whatever it took to hone their craft. You can’t fail or succeed if you don’t do it As my favorite quote from Yoda goes, “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” While try can, in some contexts, be good, the dismissal of it in this quote bears recognition because it has an important meaning. On too many occasions, I gave it a half-hearted, half-assed try. Doesn’t matter what “it” is or was – I didn’t do it with conviction. And thus, big shocker here, it didn’t go anywhere and failed. What does success look like? To succeed isn’t a one-and-done proposition. There are multiple levels to measure success. And no one is any more important than the next. Reaching the pinnacle of success that I shared above would be amazing. But I won’t get there without the prior successes above. Recognizing and acknowledging this goes a long way toward growth as I would choose it to be. Failure isn’t necessarily bad Yes, when you share your work, you might fail. And that’s not fun. However – that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Failure can teach us all kinds of useful things we might not otherwise have learned. And that can be incredibly invaluable. Here’s the most important thing to keep in mind regarding this – it’s not the end if you fail. So long as you are drawing breath, you have more opportunities to do it again. But maybe do it better. Stepping out of our comfort zones isn’t easy. But it’s how we grow and evolve on our own terms. I think that’s a worthwhile endeavor. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is a very simple tool. Share something you’ve created online. A short story, a website, a piece of art, photography, or what-have-you. Just share it. Don’t be afraid of how others judge you – take the leap. Do it. After you’ve shared your creation write down how it was received and how it made you feel.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Positive or negative – what you believe is true Even if you don’t buy into the Law of Attraction – like gravity, thermodynamics, and other elements of nature – it still exists and does its work whether you are conscious of it or not. This is why what you believe is true. At least, from your unique, one-of-a-kind perspective. Every single person on earth has their own perception of reality. Ergo, we all have unique perspectives on life, the universe, and everything. Toxic attitudes can be both positive and negative. Toxic positivity and negativity exist directly up against their related extreme. That’s not where most people exist in any given reality. What you believe is true is as you choose Let me be clear. This isn’t literal. Because belief is seldom completely literal. Thoughts, feelings, and intentions exist in each of us individually. You are the only one in your head, heart, and soul - just as much as I’m the only one in my head, heart, and soul. Thus, you alone think, feel, and intend for you. Our subconscious beliefs are why belief is seldom completely literal. How do we take control of our beliefs and our truths? The short answer is mindfulness. When you are mindful, you become consciously aware of what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, intentions you have, and actions you take related to it all. With that, you gain the ability to take control of your beliefs and choose your truth for yourself. Hence, if you believe in the negative – lack, scarcity, and insufficiency – that’s your truth. Conversely, if you believe in the positive – possibility, potential, and abundance – that’s your truth. Yes, bad things will still happen. That’s life. But you still choose if positive or negative is the dominant direction you face. That, ultimately, is your truth. Thus, what you believe – positive or negative – is true to and for you. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This tool is specific to an event. When something happens this week – specifically something unexpected, frustrating, distressing, and generally negative – after your perfectly valid, initial reaction – consider what happened. What you believe – positive or negative – is true. After something bad happens, it’s easy to go negative. But you have a choice. So, here’s the exercise: 1. Write it down 2. Explain why it generated the emotion it generated 3. Now that you’ve had some time removed from it, how are you feeling? 4. If negative, can you refocus to find and/or create a positive? This is meant to show you how self-awareness and mindfulness empower you to change any belief you hold.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nobody likes to suffer Suffering – mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually – is unpleasant. The pain that comes with suffering – tangible or not – is unpleasant, distressing, uncomfortable, and just plain awful. But do you know what’s worse than suffering? Often – the fear over how and what it’ll be. Frequently, we don’t recognize suffering as our fear. It gets cloaked in another, more recognizable, seemingly more tangible form – like rejection. Fear of suffering is often the real fear Not to put too fine a point on it – but it’s suffering we tend to be most afraid of. Yet that’s not the name we give our fears. Instead, we fear intimacy, heights, success, failure, abandonment, rejection, and lots of other tangibles and intangibles. But really, it’s not those things we fear. It’s the suffering that could occur because of them. · Intimacy? You fear a broken heart and the suffering that comes with it. · Heights? The fear is falling from them and how much suffering being broken in that fall will amount to. · Success and failure? The suffering that will occur due to the impression you make on people and their reactions to you. · Abandonment? The fear of being all alone with nobody to turn to. · Rejection? The fear you’ll suffer because you lost out, missed out, or otherwise have been refused No matter the name we give it above, it always returns to suffering. As I wrote at the start – nobody likes to suffer. The truth of suffering All of us suffer from time to time Everybody gets hurt – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. EVERYBODY. Sometimes the hurt is almost completely unbearable. Other times, it’s just annoying and irritating. And sometimes, it spurs us to action. What can we do about this to disempower fear? Fear is a natural reaction. And you will experience fear in your life because that’s part of life. Nobody escapes it. When you fear something like rejection, success, failure, abandonment, or the like – and the suffering that could come with it – you can mindfully seek rationality, reason, and logic to recognize the suffering likely won’t be as bad as you’re fearing it will be. Mindfulness gives you control of your life experience because it puts you behind the wheel of your head, heart, and soul. And since nobody but you is in there – shouldn’t you be the one driving? This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is going to be challenging for some. I’m asking you to face down your fear. And that is not an easy thing to do. Maybe this is not a current issue – but it can be applied to face any fear – tangible or intangible. Keep in mind – we cannot run away from, avoid, or hide from our fears and expect them to then go away. Dealing with them requires mindfulness. Here’s your applied guidance tool this week: 1. Write down your fear. Name it. 2. What is it you think or feel might happen if what you fear comes to pass? 3. How will that impact you directly? Not those around you – you. Write it all out in as much detail as you can. 4. Identify if what you fear is what you named or if it’s the suffering that might occur. 5. Write the response to your worst-case scenarios. Apply logic, rationality, and reason and see how that disempowers them. In identifying our fears, we take away their power over us. But it is not easy because fear is a multifaceted sensation of thought, feeling, and more.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Taking control of how we feel is a choice All kinds of things happen in our lives that make us feel one way or another. Not all feelings are the product of outside influences and happenings. But enough are that we need to consider how they affect us. The impact is just as variable as they themselves are. Sometimes that emotion lasts and lingers – good or bad. Whatever the case may be, how long we allow it to be there is up to us. We have ultimate control of our feelings. Hurt is not a singular emotion – it’s a blend Hurt involves a combination of sadness, anger, uncertainty, fear, and other similar emotions. Allow me to break this hurt down into its constituent parts. · Sadness because someone didn’t care to validate my feelings. · Anger because it feels like they were selfish. · Uncertainty because I question if it was something I did to cause it. · Fear – because what if this happens again and I suffer even more? · Other similar emotions that come and go and I can’t hold onto them long enough to name them. I know how they feel, but not necessarily what they are. Not everyone feels hurt in the same way that I do. There is no One True Way™. But to my knowledge, hurt is always an amalgam of multiple feelings. That’s why it lingers as it does. Mindfulness gives us insight to action It is with mindfulness that we can look at a feeling like hurt and gain insight into the what and how of it. What is the hurt? How did it come about? What feelings is it producing? How are we acting as a result of that? Recognize and acknowledge it’s okay to feel hurt There are any number of messages we receive that tell us feeling hurt makes us weak. That we should get over it already and let it go. Feeling hurt is utterly natural and does not make anyone at all weak. Why does getting over feeling hurt take so long? Because hurt is a complex blend of thoughts and feelings. Mindfulness makes us consciously aware – self-aware - and practical mindfulness helps us in the process of getting over feeling hurt. But it will take time. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Is there something over which you have been feeling hurt for some time? Is that impacting other elements of your life? Even if this isn’t something you’re currently encountering, this tool can be employed when it happens to you in the future. Because it will. Here are 5 steps you can take to mindfully release feeling hurt. First – Identify what caused the hurt. Second – Name the feelings associated with the hurt - i.e., sadness, anger, uncertainty, fear, etc. Third – Let yourself feel the feelings you’re feeling – but be mindful of them. Fourth – Write it all out Fifth – Decide to let go and release the hurt. Yes, this is easier said than done – and might take multiple attempts. But just making the effort has the effect of actively working to get over feeling hurt. Repeat each step as necessary. And remember – there is no shame in feeling hurt. But you do have a choice for how long you allow it to dominate you. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How does an abundance mindset work? In the simplest terms – this is a choice. Simply put, an abundance mindset is one of potential, possibility, positivity, options, and the like. An abundance mindset looks at the world with wonder and creativity because you see abundance in all that’s available to us. It’s a particularly challenging choice when up against the overwhelming messages of lack, scarcity, and insufficiencies in our world. An abundance mindset has very little to do with material abundance. That might be a result of it – but not how it works. Its opposite is a lack mindset. That’s a mindset of impossibility, uncertainty, negativity, misfortune, and the like. A lack mindset looks at the world in fear and disorganization because you see lack and scarcity of both the material and immaterial. How is the Universe abundant? At the root of all of it – and absolutely everything in the Universe – is energy. And it is abundant beyond our comprehension. Every single atom and all the stars in the cosmos are made of energy. There are something like 6.5 octillion atoms in a human body and about 200 billion trillion stars in the Universe. If that’s not direct proof of abundance and an abundant Universe – I don’t know what is. Mindfulness of an abundance mindset Conscious awareness is the only way to truly know our mindset, as well as our headspace/psyche/self. To be consciously aware we must be mindful. Mindfulness is conscious awareness of what we’re thinking, what and how we’re feeling, our intentions, and the actions we take connected to that. When we practice being mindful, we allow our conscious mind to do the driving. When we’re not mindful – our subconscious and/or our ego will do the driving. Both can operate by rote and routine – and get sucked down lack mindsets when we’re not being consciously aware of ourselves. When we’re more self-aware we’re more aware of the world around us, too. And that’s why self-care, self-awareness, and everything related to them isn’t selfish. An abundance mindset is a builder. A lack mindset is a destroyer. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Getting into and staying in an abundance mindset can be challenging. Often it can take a lot of concentration to reach and stay there. For a week, write down and answer the following questions at the end of your day (or your workday if more convenient): 1. Where did you see lack, scarcity, and insufficiency today? 2. What was it? 3. How can you reframe it and change the focus to potential, possibility, and abundance? 4. Where did you see abundance today? 5. What was it? Then, going forward for another week, in the moment you encounter lack, scarcity, or insufficiency attempt to reframe it. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The arts bring out the best of what our world can be In all the craziness of the last few years – it feels hard to see the beauty of our world. But the arts are one of the best ways to see it – for everyone. TV, movies, books, paintings, and other creations help us to feel better connected. The arts remind us that our world is shared The Earth is a relatively small planet. At least in the grand, cosmic scheme of things. It’s good to remember that it’s our world, and it belongs to none of us but all of us at the same time. Despite 7 continents, 195 countries, and thousands of different religions, multiple genders, and billions of unique individuals – it’s all our world. In the face of a fear-based society and increasingly loud fundamentalists, we need the arts of the past and the present to help us to keep moving forward. It’s too easy in the here and now to lose sight of the beauty of our world. Unfortunately, the scornful, unkind, and uncompassionate tend to be the loudest. Self-awareness employs mindfulness For the most part, art is never created mindlessly. Even the most random artistic creation was intentional. Paintings, books, sculptures, and the like speak to us. Though they are products outside of ourselves – how they make us think and feel tends to be in the moment and mindful. That, in turn, can awaken more mindfulness and overall self-awareness. Art is empowering – whatever form it takes. And that’s how the arts impact self-awareness the most. For everyone. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This one is wicked simple. Find a painting, a video, listen to music, or a book to read. When you spend time with that art – be present. Consider your thoughts and feelings at the time you are delving into the book, painting, music, or whatever. When done – stay with the thought and feeling. Consider what and how it is. Then write it down or type it out. Do this once a day for a week and see what new things you discover about yourself and your self-awareness.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fear and uncertainty are the norm in a fear-based society Fear takes many forms. Often, it’s disguised as uncertainty, trepidation, self-doubt, general doubt, brain weasels, and the like. Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It has served the human race well in protecting us from harm. But the things we needed fear to protect us from have changed. A lot. Recognize and acknowledge We all live in the same world. Yet every person perceives reality differently. As Einstein said, “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” The bravest, most fearless person you know still has fears. And to you, they might be unreasonable. What makes one person braver than another? How do they recognize, acknowledge, and then deal with their fears and uncertainty? The real issue - suffering Most of what we fear has nothing to do with the fear itself. What we fear is suffering. Likewise, uncertainty works the same. When we utterly do not know what is happening, or what is next to come – uncertainty becomes fear. More often than not – fear of suffering. As Paulo Coelho puts it so perfectly in The Alchemist, “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.” Standing up to fear and uncertainty When we recognize and acknowledge fear and uncertainty – and that suffering tends to be the overarching issue – we empower ourselves to stand up to them. How? Be practicing practical mindfulness and reason. Practical mindfulness is being consciously aware and present in the now. It’s a matter of knowing what we’re thinking, how and what we’re feeling, what our intentions are, and how we’re acting. By being consciously aware we become mindful. Hence, we know our conscious self - our mindset/headspace/psyche self. Rather than be driven by our subconscious or fooled by our ego – we know ourselves. Life is not meant to be lived utterly safe. We are not meant to be staid and stagnant. Human beings have infinite potential and possibilities. It’s all a matter of choices and decisions. Fear and uncertainty ruling our lives is a choice. Allowing them to be our dominant experience is a decision. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This 8-step tool is for identifying and addressing specific fears and related uncertainties. First, you need to recognize and acknowledge the fear. Getting to the root of your fear is an ancillary of the real issue that can come later. Choose a fear or something making you feel deeply uncertain that you can identify - and recognize and acknowledge it. Now you can work to address it. This can be done via the following steps: 1. Set aside 5 uninterrupted minutes 2. Begin with 1 minute of slow, deep breathing. 3. Be present and mindful by asking yourself a. What am I thinking and feeling? b. How am I feeling? 4. Write/type out your fear or uncertainty. Get as detailed as you can with it. 5. Write/type the worst-case suffering scenario you can imagine 6. Read it aloud. Recognize how the suffering you fear is likely worse than anything that might come to pass. 7. Thank it for protecting you. Then bid it adieu, farewell, bye-bye, or whatever. 8. Finish with 30 seconds of slow, deep breathing to center yourself. This can be repeated multiple times for the same fear/uncertainty or different ones. But this could be a great way to clear space in your head for logic, reason, and balance. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nobody goes through life without both good and bad Accepting that is empowering. I’ve made and will make more stupid, foolish, and selfish choices in my life. No matter what and how much I study, or the effort to do good I put out – I’ll screw it up along the way. This is not my truth. This is true for everybody. That’s because every single person on the planet makes mistakes, does stupid, foolish, and even selfish things from time to time. What does accepting ourselves mean? We are all a paradox of yin and yang, good and bad, right and wrong, and on and on. We can’t erase, negate, ignore, or otherwise disregard our bad aspects. We are all perfectly imperfect mixes of good and bad. All of us have our positives and our negatives. And when we accept this – we empower ourselves. How does acceptance empower us? Mindfulness lets us see – here and now – what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling, how we’re feeling, what we’re doing, and what our intentions are. That knowledge opens us to see who, what, where, how, and why we are. But in not being accountable – and not accepting both our good and bad – we disempower ourselves. Accepting is more powerful than tolerating Words matter. For example, like the power of want versus desire – the implication and position of a given word will have an impact on its meaning. Accepting means exactly what it says. We recognize, acknowledge, and accept this, that, or whatever it is. Not blindly, not just because – but due to a choice or decision. I accept this. When it comes to ourselves – this is utterly empowering. Why? Because accepting ourselves for all that we are means we can choose new options to be other, more, different, etc. By accepting ourselves as we are – warts and all – we’re empowered to alter this as we see fit. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Think back on something bad, wrong, or that otherwise causes you displeasure. Find something that happened some time ago or is an ongoing habit that continues to displease you. (For example – despite mostly not biting my fingernails anymore – I still chew one off sometimes). Write it down (or type it out). Detail it as thoroughly as you can. Read it over. Let it soak into your soul. Now – accept it. Acknowledge it, be accountable/responsible for it, and don’t blame anyone or anything. Accept it for what it is and how it impacts you and your life. Write down or type out how you are accepting it. (If possible and desired – do what you can to change it). Remember – we cannot undo, redo, or otherwise fix what has passed in the past. But we can learn from it and choose to move on. Accepting is very much a mindful act that’s a part of that.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your birthday is your personal new year You always have a choice when it comes to your personal New Year Approach with sadness and sorrow or approach with excitement for both what has been and what has come before Make new choices and decisions Mostly I see three approaches to birthdays: · Joy · Dread · Utter nonchalance These are, respectively, positive, negative, and neutral. New level or new devil? Like in gaming this is a chance to “level up” Gain more experience points, hit points, skills, and so on Or you can see it as a new descent Aging, new pains, new concerns Closer to the end than the beginning Self-awareness lets you choose It is with and through self-awareness that you can choose if this is a new level or new devil · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing? · What are my intentions? We get to choose who, what, where, how, and why we are – here and now. That’s how mindfulness and conscious awareness work to balance us. Zero impact birthday It is also perfectly acceptable to see your birthday as just another day of the week/month/year. It need not be a new level or new devil. It just is This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This week – do at least one very special thing for yourself. The thing you choose to do might cost some money – or not. But that’s your choice. If there is something special that will make you feel good – be mindful and do it. This could include: · Indulge in a unique meal · Take a bubble bath · Get a massage · Take a mental health day from work · Go for a drive to somewhere special · Give yourself time to and for yourself These are just a few ideas – but mindfully making this kind of choice with a tangible impact of some sort opens us to making choices with more intangible or delayed results.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Self-Awareness goes beyond the self Why we are – and all else – depends on circumstances both in and out of our control. All elements of who, what, where, how, and why we are occurred through various combinations of choices made and not made, extenuating circumstances, and/or random happenstance. No matter how it happened – it is changeable. That might feel like it will require the force of moving a mountain to accomplish – or a similar almost unimaginable feat. But nothing about us and our lives is written in stone. All is malleable and changeable. The past is not the present Lots of people identify with their past selves. The past has come and gone. You cannot undo it, redo it, or change it. Living from it makes no sense because it’s past. Behind. Here and now, the present, however, is where, who, what, how, and why you are. To get to truly know yourself in all the ways that you can – you need to be here, now. Mindfulness of who, what, where, how, and why we are Mindfulness in this expression is conscious awareness. It is pausing to be present, in the here and now, and aware of yourself and all these questions. The best way to start this process is by working to be aware of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions in the present. Self-awareness, choices, circumstances, and random happenstance Extenuating circumstances happen. Likewise, so does random happenstance. The Universe tosses stuff at us from various directions – and what happens next impacts who, what, how, where, and why we are. When whatever happens, happens, it simply is. Maybe it’s an exploding pipe in your kitchen, a collision with another car on the highway, an unexpected medical problem, or what-have-you. These are bad experiences – but similarly, good can occur just as unexpectedly. Your crush kisses you, you win the lottery, you get an unexpected promotion at work, and the like. Generally, bad or good, we didn’t see it coming until it arrived. After, there will be a visceral, immediate, reaction either positive or negative – but after that what you do is up to you. Conscious awareness of ourselves – self-awareness, mindfulness of ourselves – is how we can be all that we desire to be. And if we dislike what we find – we are capable of changing it. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is a refined version of a tool I shared earlier. At least twice once day for the next week, write down these questions and their answers (allow yourself 2-5 minutes time for this) · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing? · What are my intentions? At the end of a week look back and see if you can remember the what, how, why, and where of the answers. Pause and reflect if when you were actively mindful you felt more centered. Bonus challenge – going forward, at least once a day ask yourself these questions – and see how being consciously self-aware in the here and now better informs you of who, what, where, how, and why you are.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What are we doing and why are infrequently asked questions Do you ever stop and ask, “What am I doing?” When you get the answer, does it sometimes raise the additional question of “Why am I doing it?” How does this happen? There are, of course, many reasons. But we frequently don’t question them. How do we reclaim this? Asking questions of ourselves One of the keys to mindfulness and the related conscious awareness that comes with it is to ask questions. These questions include: · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? Along this same line: · What am I doing? · Why am I doing this? When we ask and answer these questions, that makes them present in the here and now. Ergo, we know, mindfully, who, what, where, how, and why we are. Getting these answers lets us work out what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. When we don’t ask, we don’t know. The answer to the question is never a constant The one and only constant in the entire Universe is change. It is guaranteed that change can and will happen. And thus, the answers to these questions are always changing. This is a choice When all is said and done, you get to choose this. Ask questions? Or don’t. Get to know yourself? Or not. Practice mindfulness? Or just allow the routine and habit to carry you along and let life live you. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is a very simply mindfulness tool. At least twice a day for the next week, write down the time, both these questions, and the answers to them: · What am I doing? · Why am I doing this? At the end of a week look back and see what you have been doing and how much it has changed – even subtly. Now, for another week, ask and answer these questions at least a day – but it’s not necessary to write them down. At the end of these two weeks, please review. Do you feel more mindful and in control?
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Self-awareness creates mindfulness of habits I recently read Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick by Wendy Wood. Though sometimes overly clinical – it gave some useful information about habits. But this led me to this realization - Habits are the result of mindfulness that becomes rote and routine To change anything at all, or to develop a new skillset, we need to find, create, and build new habits. A large swath of the things we do in our lives is habitual. It becomes rote and routine and automatic as such. This is extremely useful. Since mindfulness – conscious awareness – is not our natural state of being, doing things subconsciously and habitually allows us to use conscious awareness for specific things. When mindfulness/self-awareness is not our default But there’s a downside to this. Because it’s not our default - nor really taught to us nor explored - our mindful, conscious awareness tends to get shunted to crises, emergencies, and the unexpected. With one exception – the start of a new process. Taking on a weight loss program, learning a new skill, developing a new ability, and the like. To start anything new in our lives requires us to be consciously aware. Identifying and changing habits How do you identify your habits, and then change them? Recognize the things you do by rote, routine, and automatically – with little to no thought. These are your habits. All habits can be changed. It’s a matter of recognizing and acknowledging what our habits are. After that, we need to take mindful actions to change them. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: When it comes to reaching any plateau with anything that you’re doing – habits need to be checked and altered. This week’s applied guidance tool is a 6-step process to do just that. Step 1 - Acknowledge the plateauThis is important because it’s easy to deny the issue, blame someone or something for it (ourselves included), or declare failure and allow it to negatively impact our overall health, wellness, and wellbeing. Step 2 - Look for where the habit went wrongHow did the automaticity, rote, and routine shift away from the intention of the inciting action? This might take some time and deep analysis to recognize and understand. Step 3 - Forgive yourselfI’m pretty sure that everyone experiences this in their life – so don’t be unkind to yourself that you plateaued. Forgive yourself so that you can release this and move forward. Step 4 - Mindfully choose new actionsDon’t let your habitual behavior continue. Instead, choose mindfully, with conscious awareness, what actions to take now. Step 5 - Repeat Step 4 frequentlyApplied mindfulness is not one-and-done. It’s ongoing – or else a new habit to replace an unwanted habit can’t take hold. Step 6 – Rinse and repeatIt took time to reach the plateau you’ve reached. Allow time to get off it again. How much time? Depends on lots of factors I can’t tell you about because I’m not you, and your mileage may vary.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mental health is our state of mind Everyone on the planet deals with matters of health, wellness, and wellbeing. Along those lines, everyone has four primary areas of health to consider – mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. Mental health is where our overall wellness and wellbeing live. They are products of mental health. Nobody accepts that matters of mental health are just as normal and regular as the common cold. So why do we disregard mental health? It all comes down to fear Fear, at its core, is meant to keep us safe. We live in a fear-based society. But all those fears are intangible. Yet nearly all of these are not just intangible – but blown way out of proportion. As Paulo Coelho says in The Alchemist, “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.” If fear is a matter of the heart, how does it tie into mental health? Because it is used to defy logic, reason, and other products of the mind. Fear overwhelms our thoughts by ramping up our feelings. There is no need to fear mental health matters The truth is that the intangible fear weaponized in our society can be overcome. But not with some grand proclamation, a revolution, or a charismatic leader showing us the way out. When we work on our mental health, we establish a new base of reason, logic, and mindfulness. We actively strive to do something about our anxiety, depression, fear, and other elements impacting our mental health. From that stable place, we can more easily address our physical, emotional, and spiritual health. How? Physical health – When we stabilize our mental health, we can more clearly see and make the choices to have a better diet and more effective exercise – thus improving our physical health. Emotional health – Because mental health opens us to have more logic, reason, and mindfulness, we’re better able to control our emotions – rather than let them control us. Spiritual health – We can choose clearly - rather than blindly - what faith and belief we follow. Also – we can recognize if our spiritual choices have a negative impact outside of ourselves. Mental health matters can drive everything in our lives. And it's time to emphasize and expand on this to gain more recognition for how it makes all of us better - and is nothing to be feared. What is your attitude towards mental health matters? Are you open and honest about your own – or fearful of stigma, taboo, and the like? This is a choice. And I would encourage choosing to be more open and honest. Why? Because the more we openly and honestly share our own mental health matters – the more we encourage others to do the same. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Mental health is serious. Ignoring and/or disregarding it will lead to all sorts of less-than-desirable places. This week’s tool is about being mindful of our mental health matters. This involves recognizing and acknowledging the state of our being, mentally. To do so, please write down and answer these questions: · What are you thinking about? · What feelings are your thoughts causing you to feel? · Do you feel logical and reasoned or illogical and unreasonable? · How do you feel? These questions and answers make you mindful, here and now, of your mental health. That helps you to balance, center, and use your mental health to improve your overall health, wellness, and wellbeing.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why are logic and reason so challenging? I’ll be honest – I just don’t get it. Take COVID-19. Logic and reason, alongside science, suggested ways to slow or even stop the spread. Most are super easy acts of kindness, compassion, and caring. · Maintain a social distance of 6 feet apart. · Wear masks in public. · If you are feeling unwell, isolate yourself. It is not an imposition Why have logical, reasonable acts of kindness, compassion, and caring become an imposition? Because that’s the false narrative that too many “in power” are willingly embracing and spreading. Why? Because of false narratives of lack, scarcity, and insufficiency. Lack, scarcity, and insufficiency lead to panic. Panic leads to fear. And with fear, many of our so-called leaders use it to sway the masses. Often, against their better self-interests. We are not imposing on anyone else Because there is nothing we can do for the big-picture issues of the world, all we can do is be the best person that we can be. We get to choose if we will practice kindness, compassion, caring, and empathy. You and I decide if logic and reason win out over irrationality and fear. When we practice kindness, compassion, caring, and empathy – we are not imposing on anyone else. You are not an imposition if you insist on wearing a mask in public, maintaining social distancing, or avoiding people and places to stay healthy. The more we practice kindness, compassion, caring, and empathy individually – the more we can shift the collective consciousness to recognize that it's never an imposition. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: It is stunningly easy to practice kindness, compassion, empathy and caring on a regular basis. This will have zero cost in dollars, and very little cost in time. But I believe it’s utterly worthwhile. This week’s tool is easy. Consciously perform a random act of kindness, compassion, and/or caring a day for a week. Random acts of this sort include, but are not limited to: · Hold a door open for someone · Allow another car to make a turn or merge in front of you · Call a friend in need · Jump-start a stranger’s car · Leave a tip for the baristas You get the idea. Write each one down. At the end of the week, read what you did – and think about and feel how it made them and you feel.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We can only control change of anything via ourselves first First and foremost – let’s recognize, acknowledge, and accept that change is the only constant in the Universe. Given the opportunity, I would love to change the way the United States handles taxes, health care, education, the separation of church and state, and various other elements. The reality is that the only way I can do that in any way is to vote in elections, write and call representatives, attend protests, and share information to help spread empowering ideas. We have no power to change anyone other than ourselves. We can share ideas and influence people to choose to change themselves. But we can’t change them. When we turn our focus and attention towards the world at large and the big picture, we disempower ourselves. Be the change you wish to see Yeah, that line gets overused a lot. However, it’s the truth. Care to make a change? Make it. The problem here is perception. Often, when we decide to go ahead and make change – and start with ourselves – accusations of selfishness start to fly. Or at least, the perception of being selfish can come when we start working on or with change. Here’s the thing – we can only control our lives. Our selves. You and I have no power over anyone else. And to be honest – that’s more than enough power. I don’t want to be responsible or accountable for anyone else. Do you? We are empowered When we recognize and acknowledge that we can only change ourselves, we can work with that framework to change anything at all within our own life experiences. Knowing that we have that much power and control over our own lives, we can use this via mindfulness to take control of active work with change. This empowers us – but that makes us a beacon to help others empower themselves, too. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Change is the one and only constant in the Universe. A great deal of change is utterly and completely outside of our control. But there are elements of change we can control. This week’s mindfulness tool is applied mindfulness to create a change. How does this work? 1. Be present, now. Ask yourself the questions that make you consciously aware of what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, your intentions, and related actions you are taking. 2. Choose something simple you would like to change. Start with something tangible. For example: · Change toothpaste · Choose a different route when you take a routine trip · Order something different from your usual restaurant · Switch the music you normally listen to when doing a certain project · Read a book in a genre you have never chosen before 3. When what you have chosen to do is done, ask yourself again what you’re thinking, what and how you’re feeling, your intentions, and related actions you are taking. Then write it down. Why bother? Because this mindfulness tool shows an example of something you might take for granted that is utterly yours to control. And choosing such a thing to change opens the door to intangible and other possibilities for choosing what you change.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why do you desire the things you desire? When you were a child, you believed you could do anything. Hell, you may even have believed that you could fly. You were open and eager and ready to explore and experience all the amazingness that life could offer you. If your why involves what you are doing with your life, then keep at it and rock on! If, however, your why has nothing to do with where your life currently is, do you know what your why is, and the reason you desire it? Getting to know your why For a lot of people, they actually haven’t the foggiest idea of what they desire for their life. They may have an idea here, a thought there, an abstract notion along the way…but are unaware of what shape it can and might take and how to implement it. The question, when you know your why, that might come up is this: Are you worthy? Do you deserve this? Great or small, whatever why drives you, in all likelihood, has the same end goal in mind. No matter who you are, or what your why is, odds are the reason behind it is going to be similar, even if the shape is not. The reason: Satisfaction. Contentment. Happiness. Joy. Feeling good. How do you know and achieve your why? Mindfulness. Becoming aware and cognizant of your thoughts and feelings will get you where and why you desire to go. Too many people allow themselves to be disempowered and pushed around into societal expectations and following the reality of the collective consciousness because that’s what gets drilled into them. But remember – your why changes as you change, grow, and evolve. Consciousness creates reality.
This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: If you are uncertain about what your why is, this week’s tool is designed to help you find your why. And if you think you know your why it can help you to makes sure you are on track. Write down or type out and answer these questions: · What activity gets you fired up? · What do you do where you lose track of time? · How do you feel after this activity? · If you were the last person on Earth – would you still seek this activity? There are other questions of this nature that can help you learn your why. But these are a good basis. Also, keep in mind that you can have more than one why, and that your why will change as you change. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why does the world need more positivity? Being virtually gut-punched constantly takes a toll on everyone. And that is why positive intention matters more now than ever. Positivity empowers. It is an open door, a window to the world, an option that feels good, right, and true. Choosing positivity, on the other hand, empowers because it’s the equivalent of persevering and keeping on. I can do it. Everything is figureoutable. There is hope. It’s doable. Can you see how empowering choosing that is? When you actively, mindfully choose positivity, you choose to take back your empowerment. The empowerment that is your birthright. What is toxic positivity? Toxic positivity is the notion that a positive attitude – while ignoring and disregarding all else – will make the world a better place. If you just think and act positively, all the time, you can improve the world. Real positivity recognizes and acknowledges that sh*! happens. You will have bad days. Negativity will dominate your life from time to time. But – real positivity is a choice. Over time, you can continue to feel negative and let it be your dominant life experience – or find and/or create positivity where you can. Mindfulness and intention Once you recognize and acknowledge how you feel – and that it’s negative – you have a choice. Seek positivity and the hope it offers? Or stay in the negativity and lose hope? How do your use positive intention? Mindfulness. Mindfulness is you being consciously aware, in the present, of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. That opens the way to you taking charge and – if your thoughts and feelings are negative – taking control and changing them with positive intention. And this is all about intent. Because you intend to turn from facing the negative end of the cylinder to the positive end that you can control here and now. With positive intention comes hope. Because rather than being in and seeing negativity all around, you are choosing to find and/or create positivity. And that is where hope lives. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Mindfulness lets you recognize your present state of being. It’s how you know your mood, attitude, and conscious self here and now. Via recognition of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions, you can and will know yourself and where you are. But what about where you are going? This is where positive intention comes in. Like the basic mindfulness questions, recognizing if your intent is positive or negative is also a matter of asking yourself questions. These should be asked aloud whenever you desire to gauge where you’re facing. You might also want to write them out. · Are my thoughts making me feel positive or negative? · Do my feelings skew negative or positive? · Am I taking actions that build positivity or negativity? · Is my intent to build up with positivity or take down with negativity? Yes, this might seem overly simple. But when, if ever, have you asked yourself these questions before? Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There is nothing selfish about self-care We’re told that we should not put ourselves first. Instead, we should put our children, loved ones, family, friends, bosses, coworkers, country, religion, God, and everyone and everything else that you can think of first. Pick the institution, organization, or individual – they’ll all tell you that you shouldn’t put yourself ahead of anyone or anything else. I am all for generosity. And I love to give of my time, donate to worthy causes, instruct, share, and help wherever I can. It feels amazing to give like that. But if I don’t ever put myself first – before long, I’m suffering. My health, wellness, and wellbeing are impacted if I do not practice self-care. Whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual – if I don’t take care of my health, who will? What is true selfishness? The definition of selfish from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: 1. concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself | seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others 2. arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others (Emphasis added by me) Phrases of note here – without regard for others and in disregard of others. In other words, with intent. With malice of forethought. Choosing to care for and look out for yourself is not with selfish intent. Not unless you do so without care or regard for anyone or anything else. Accountability separates self-care from selfishness The first step in this process is to recognize and acknowledge the need for self-care. You need to be accountable for how the things you do for yourself – or not – impact your health, wellness, and wellbeing. By being accountable, you can more easily separate self-care from selfishness. But there is still an issue to address. When you refuse to spend a weekend with that awful relative or to engage in more than pleasantries with them – they might see your actions as selfish. You can’t help others recognize self-care from selfishness. You are worthy and deserving of good health, overall wellness, and wellbeing. Which means you are worthy and deserving of self-care. Remember – it’s far easier to care for others when you start with self-care. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Unselfish self-care practices can and should always begin small. At least once a day for the next week, do one of the following (or something similar) · Take 5 minutes for yourself, alone, without interruption. · Read at least 1 chapter of a book for pleasure · Watch something you enjoy uninterrupted · Take a luxurious bath or shower · Go for a walk in nature · Eat and savor that treat you love · Do something for you and only you Whatever you choose – for 5 minutes to an hour a day, do something that is all about caring for your physical, mental, emotional, and or spiritual self. Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Everyone has the same 3 states of mind · Unconsciousness is that which you do purely automatically. Overall breathing, swallowing, digesting, and similar things your mind and central nervous system do unaided. · Subconsciousness is where your habits, beliefs, values, and overall sense of self exist. It is subconscious because you CAN access it — but largely don’t. Subconscious is passive, doing things by rote and routine. · Consciousness is here and now. It’s your inner being, specifically your mindset/headspace/psyche sense of self. Consciousness is active, choosing and deciding things in the moment. For the most part, you can ignore the unconscious mind. But the conscious and the subconscious are what make you, you. The conscious mind is where your overall inner being and mindset/headspace/psyche self lives. It is who you think/feel/know yourself to be, here and now, as you read these words. Getting in touch with your conscious mind is done via mindfulness. Mindfulness, of course, is your conscious awareness of sensory input coupled with thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions in the present. Your subconscious mind - the deeply rooted aspects of you Within your subconscious are all your beliefs, values, and habits. You are likely aware of many. But there are also, quite probably, many that you are not so aware of. Your subconscious takes in all that you experience, learn, see, think, feel, and whatnot. Then, because it lacks the filters of the conscious mind, many things it absorbs sit there and leave a lasting impression that you would not have consciously chosen. Where does ego come in? Ego is something of a bridge between your conscious and subconscious mind. On the one hand, ego is how you project yourself to the world. Meanwhile, on the other hand, ego is how you project yourself within to yourself. Ego is where the subconscious often manifests itself consciously in who, what, where, how, and how you are. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: These are things you can do on a regular basis to align your conscious and subconscious mind. This is less of a one-shot tool than a use as necessary as frequently as desired tool. These are the practices that will help you align your conscious and subconscious minds. · Physical – Get exercise regularly, maintain a healthier sustainable diet, and getting more sleep. · Mental – Read daily. I read a minimum of 1 chapter each of fiction and nonfiction (mindfulness, self-improvement, consciousness-focused work). · Emotional – Journaling daily can help you keep ahold of your thoughts and feelings and express honestly with yourself where you are at. Also, consider writing out 5 gratitude statements every night before bed, plus five positive “I AM” statements. · Spiritual – Practice taking breaks for 2 minutes of uninterrupted deep breathing at least twice a day. Learn a means to meditate for 5-30 minutes a day. Working on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health is a conscious act. In turn, it makes us aware of our mindset/headspace/psyche selves. That awareness opens us to getting in touch with our subconscious and working to alter, change, remove, or otherwise control the habits, beliefs, and values we hold. And then we can see more clearly what our ego is projecting both within and without.
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You Do Not Suffer Depression Alone Recognizing this can help you turn to people when it strikes and find better ways to cope with and combat it. Call it what you will, depression is something far more people cope with than you might realize. This is a very real mental and emotional health problem that should neither be ignored, nor swept under the rug. Yet there are still many, many people who do not recognize or acknowledge the depth of the issue. Perspective differs for everyone These are my experiences with depression. Though they may be familiar to you if you also combat depression, they may also be utterly alien as well. Depression manifests differently for different people. This is one of the problems, I believe, with both recognizing and treating depression. It has so many different faces, masks, and means that it can be confusing at best, infuriating, and utterly illogical at worst. Depression can manifest as anger, sadness, mania, frustration, fear, rage, uncertainty, and a bizarre mix of all of these and more. There is no shame in depression This is probably the most important stigma to address. There is no shame in fighting depression. There is no shame whatsoever in working with any mental illness. We need to be more open about how pervasive mental, emotional, and even spiritual health issues are, and how they ultimately can impact our physical health. Ask for help Because of the stigma attached to depression, as well as all of the complexities involved in experiencing it, asking for help can be really hard. No, I am not necessarily talking about professional help here. The people who love and care about you should be able to offer a hand when you need it. And if they are incapable, there are many other options. There are helplines you can call, there are organizations you can reach out to. And you probably, as a reader of these types of articles, know many others who understand what this is like to one degree or another. You are not alone. I will be more than happy to give you any of the tools I have used with mindfulness, conscious reality creation, and meditation practices, that I can. Or at the very least, an ear (or eye if via text communication) of understanding. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is going to be a slightly more involved tool. Journaling is an amazing way to clear your mind. It lets you honestly and authentically take what is in your head and put it somewhere you can see. While you could type this, I highly recommend doing this in a dedicated notebook or blank journal. To begin, pick a time every day (start with weekdays, Monday-Friday) to sit with a pen and your journal. Write out stream-of-consciousness what you are thinking, what and how you are feeling, and anything else that comes to mind. Don’t hold back, and don’t be afraid of judgment. Nobody else will read this because you are keeping it for and to yourself. Try journaling for at least 2 weeks, 5 days a week. If you can’t get a whole page at a time, write as much as you can. This could be a lifetime activity. Though I have had periods where I was not actively journaling. I’ve been doing so semi-regularly since 1992.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You are not the only one feeling frequently distraught and uncertain The starting point for dealing with feeling frequently distraught, uncertain, and otherwise negative is self-care. Who is in your head? You. And you’re it. There is nobody else in there. Thus, if you don’t take the time and make the effort to care for your self – who will? Because you are the only one in your heart, head, and soul, only you can care for your health, wellness, and wellbeing. This applies to all four elements of health. Physical health, mental health, emotional health, and spiritual health. If you allow any of these elements to have a deficiency and suffer, in time all of them will. They’re interconnected, and they are what make us into who, what, where, how, and why we are. You begin by recognizing this truth. Once you recognize it, you need to acknowledge it. It’s super easy to recognize something and then ignore, disregard, or walk away from it. If you don’t acknowledge it, you can’t do anything about it. How do you deal with feeling frequently distraught and other negatives? Before I begin, one very important note. There is no One-Size-Fits-All answer. Frankly, there never is. · Do not watch the news or read the papers. · Get off social media. · Seek and find joyful things. Not watching the news on TV and reading newspapers, getting off of social media, and seeking/finding joyful things are just a few ways to deal with feeling frequently distraught, uncertain, or otherwise negative. Distraught? You are not alone! Believe me – you are so, so, so not alone right now. The world is crazy – but I suspect it’s not crazier than it’s ever been. We just know it more clearly thanks to the visceral immediacy of the internet and 24-hour news cycle. You are not the only one feeling the feeling s you’re feeling right now. I think with only a few exceptions, nearly all of us are feeling this. If you have kindness, caring, compassion, and empathy in you – you feel it. That’s the most disheartening part of it all. Most of these big-picture issues are as problematic as they are because they lack kindness, compassion, and empathy. Know this – you are not selfish for practicing self-care. You are worthy and deserving of caring for your health, wellness, and wellbeing. And there is no shame in feeling frequently distraught or otherwise negative. No shame at all. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is applicable to multiple situations. Create Attitude Shifters. Write down 5 things that always shift your attitude. These should be 5, easily accessible memories that make you smile, or just generally feel good. These can include things like: · A certain child’s laughter · A song that makes you want to dance · Holding your lover’s hand · The smell of your favorite coffee brewing or bread baking · Enjoying a particular sweet or savory food · Standing outside in a warm summer rain You get the idea. Then, keep these attitude shifters handy. Put them on an index card or keep them where you can easily reference them to change your attitude when you are feeling distraught, uncertain, or otherwise negative. In a month – write down 5 more. This is a great way to remember that there is good in the world and your life experience.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Getting healthy is physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual There are things that you and I can do on our own to work on getting healthy on all levels. Allow me to further illustrate this below. Physical health Eat healthy food. Move, get exercise regularly. Get yourself plenty of sleep. Put yourself in the sun from time to time. Take showers and baths to be clean. Physical health is anything you can do to improve your body. This body you occupy is the physical manifestation of who you are. It’s easy to ignore and disrespect our physical selves. When we do, we set ourselves up to be unhealthy. That’s natural — because sometimes focusing on our other aspects and outside influences causes us to ignore our bodies. Mental health Stress, anxiety, and depression — untreated — can make you physically sick and even kill you. Untreated mental health issues will also impact your ability to heal from injuries. Good mental health can and will assist in healing physical health. Conversely, it will also get in the way. You can recognize the state of your mental health and act to be healthy if you are not. Emotional health Emotional health is different from mental because it’s about feeling versus thought. Emotional health is your actual feelings. It’s asking and answering the question of “How do you feel?” How and what are separate. Emotional health is the step past your mental health into the actuality of feelings. Spiritual health Many think this is about belief in God or another higher power. But spiritual health is not about what you believe and have faith in outside of yourself. It’s about what you believe and have faith in within yourself. This is where the power of the words “I am” takes the most shape. “I am awesome” empowers your spirit, whereas “I am a loser” disempowers. If you have little faith and belief in yourself, this is where it shows. This is utterly intangible and beyond the understanding of physical, mental, and emotional health. Yet it’s of equal importance to you, your wellbeing, and getting healthy. The four elements of health, wellness, and wellbeing All four of these elements, together, can make you healthy. When you recognize, acknowledge, and work with them your health WILL improve. When your health improves it will be noticed by others. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Caring for all elements of your health is self-care. Mental, emotional, physical, spiritual – whatever. It all comes together and counts together for your wellness and wellbeing overall. This week’s tool is open-ended. It requires you to take from 5-30 minutes, depending on what you can spare to act on this. 1. Clear 5-30 minutes for this process. No interruptions, no other obligations. Time for you and you alone. 2. Take three deep, cleansing, slow breaths in and out. Clear the tension in your body with airflow. 3. Do any one of the following:
· Go for a hike in nature.
· Meditate somewhere comfortable and calm.
· Prepare and eat an amazing meal or tasty snack.
· Treat yourself to a massage, facial, Reiki, or some other similar modality.
· Take a bike ride.
· Read a book.
· Masturbate.
· Go to the Gym.
· Paint, sculpt, write poetry, or do some other art.
· Watch something that you know will make you laugh or cry.
4. Repeat step 2 and take three more deep, cleansing, slow breaths in and out. Create the transition from this you-time to other obligations and needs. Do this at least 3 times during the next week. Find and/or create this space for your mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health – wellness – and wellbeing. You are worthy and deserving of this!
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thank you is one of the most powerful phrases you can say I believe that these are the three most powerful phrases anyone can employ: · I am · I love you · Thank you All three are empowering. Each of them is an ultimate generator of conscious reality creation. And all three can create positivity and good feelings both for you as the speaker and those who you share them with. When you say thank you and express gratitude – real, genuine, sincere gratitude – you empower. This is not just about that which you are giving thanks to or for – but yourself. Gratitude is a two-way street When you do something for someone – big or small – how does it feel to get told “thank you” for the action? Have you ever watched someone else’s face light up because you thanked them? Gained cooperation and a better relationship with someone because you thanked them? Giving gratitude is just as powerful as getting it. And there is no other force in the entire Universe that has such power. This is why thank you is one of the three most powerful phrases you can employ. I think genuine, sincere gratitude might be the only thing in the Universe that is not negative. The sustainability of gratitude Why do you think so many businesses are having issues getting and retaining workers? Lack of gratitude. That’s reflected in lousy working conditions, an imbalance of work/life, crap pay, insufficient or no benefits, and treating employees like dirt beneath their feet or worse. This is also reflected in a corporate culture that puts shareholders ahead of consumers. When you make a product or offer a service – but only see those you make them for as numbers rather than the people behind them – you lack thankfulness. And in time, those people will come to see that – and stop patronizing you. That’s why all these places where giving thanks and being grateful are neglected are unsustainable. Because, ultimately, when you don’t give gratitude, you don’t get it, either. When you give thanks, you get thanks. It doesn’t matter if you give thanks for a person, place, thing, or whatever. Tangible or intangible, gratitude empowers. When you give more, you get more. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Unless you are an extreme introvert – this one is easy. For the next week, make it a point to say “thank you” frequently. Any wait staff, customer service people, cashiers, friends, family, coworkers, whatever. If they do anything at all that you are grateful for and appreciative of, say “thank you.” Don’t just say it – feel it. Let the sense of gratitude wash over you and sink in. Don’t you love how good it feels to offer thanks for the actions of another? And yes – this also applies to grumpy employees who are doing their best in difficult situations. For every pleasant customer, many deal with double or trouble that number in unpleasantness. Show them kindness, compassion, and empathy by offering gratitude. Genuine, gratitude. See if saying “thank you” to others ricochets back with more feeling of gratitude for you, too.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Self-awareness is for everyone Self-awareness is available to and for everyone. This is not something reserved for the super-intelligent, uber-rich, or otherwise privileged. No matter where you come from or who you are you are capable of being aware. The truth: Everyone is perfectly imperfect While it is important to be responsible and accountable for your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions - there is a massively important aspect of this notion we cannot ignore. When you have accepted responsibility and taken on accountability, you need to forgive yourself. Forgiveness can be difficult in many ways. When somebody does something awful to you, directly or indirectly, it may not be so easy to forgive them. But in many respects, it is even harder for us to forgive ourselves. 5 Universal Truths of Your Self These 5 truths are, in no particular order: · You will screw up. Plain and simple, you are going to screw up in some way. · You will fail. The best-laid plans and all that stuff. Sometimes, you fail. · You will be wrong. Nobody is right all the time, whether this involves thoughts, feelings, actions, or a combination therein. · You will get hurt. Might be mental, emotional, physical, or all of the above. Sorry, it’s part of the human condition. · You will hurt others. Most likely this is mental/emotional and unintentional, but because you cannot control how other people feel, causing hurt happens. Being responsible and accountable is a first step in forgiving yourself Straight to the point. When you acknowledge your screw-up, failure, wrong, hurt, or whatever, and do not blame another for it - it clears the air. Ever do something wrong, and fear what would happen when you fessed up to it? When you did, even if it went badly for you, didn’t you FEEL relieved, and better? That matters. This is why it’s better to take on responsibility and accountability for yourself. You clear the air and create an endpoint - rather than an open-ended question of doubt and uncertainty that blame tends to make. You might not like doing it, you might feel ashamed, angry, frustrated, or any number of other unpleasant feelings about it, but it is still the best thing to do. Accepting these 5 truths about yourself might seem unpleasant – but in truth, it’s utterly freeing. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This tool is like the previous one created for accountability. But this is for recognizing and acknowledging these truths from past I am a firm believer in the power of writing things down. That’s where this idea comes from. 1. Make some time. This is a focused exercise. But it should take no more than 5-10 minutes. 2. Breathe deep. Take several deep breaths in and out, to slow your heart and be as fully present as possible. 3. Write and reflect. Take a look back at your life, and write out what comes to your mind immediately: a. A time you screwed up b. A time you failed c. Some instance when you were wrong d. Something that happened where you got hurt (physically, mentally, emotionally, etc.) e. A time you hurt someone 4. Choose one above instance. Write out in detail more about that instance. 5. Reflect on it. Be mindful of it. Consider it, but also make note that it has passed. What did you learn from it? You can write this out or not. 6. Forgive yourself. Just say “I’m sorry” to yourself. Further steps are wholly on you. For example, you might desire to apologize to someone else. Or write it out and burn it to release it. This is not easy. But it can be incredibly cathartic.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations
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Accountability is an important aspect of self-awareness and mindfulness Taking responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and actions matters in all you do. Modern society hates to be accountable. But damn, do they love to blame. When you are mindful, you are choosing to be aware of yourself. You are aware of what you are thinking, how you are feeling, and actions you are taking from there. When we are mindful of ourselves, we need to be accountable. Why? Because the only way to improve our lot in life is to be accountable for being where we have gotten to in the first place. Society loves to blame. We see it on every level, from the child who doesn’t want to be punished for stealing a cookie to the President who doesn’t want to be responsible for anything. We blame someone or something else, rather than take responsibility and be accountable for that which we have done. You are not accountable for some things Let me put this out there right now. Some things happen due to outside influences for which you and I are not accountable or responsible. An important note here – while “we” are not accountable for these outside matters, we are capable of doing things to change them. Supporting the protests and organizations that represent progress and positive change, voting in elections, and calling and writing letters to the leadership demanding action are a few options. Accountability is empowering One of the best ways to be empowered is to be accountable for yourself. Whatever thoughts, feelings, and actions you have, accountability is how you take control. Consciousness creates reality. Practicing mindfulness and becoming aware of your mindset/headspace/psyche gives you control of your life. Then, being accountable and responsible for the results of the things you think, feel, and do empowers you. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: This is an ongoing practice that is incredibly practical and utterly freeing. When you make a mistake, screw up, get something wrong, err, or otherwise fail – own up to it. Be accountable. While you cannot undo, redo, or otherwise alter the past – if there is something that you did not take responsibility for then – you can do it now. In either case, here’s a good tool for practicing accountability: 1. Write it down. Whatever the situation was – especially if it went wrong – write it down. Put it there, on paper. While it might suck and be bad – odds are it’s not so terrible that it will have a long-term, negative impact on your life experience. 2. Write out what you did wrong. Be specific. Don’t blame, don’t make excuses, and don’t half-ass this. What did you do wrong? 3. What did you learn from this experience? Every experience in life teaches us something. Yes, that can be insignificant or a very of-the-moment lesson – but you learn something. Write it down and see what you come up with. 4. What can you do differently next time? To be fair – there might not be an answer to this question. But asking it can give some clarity, insight, and possibly new ideas that serve this and/or other situations. You can save this, erase it, or whatever when you are done. It might be helpful to keep it as a reminder. Likewise, it might also be worthwhile to acknowledge it and then let it go – by not keeping it. When we are accountable, we’re empowered. And we make ourselves capable of action for change.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thinking and feeling is only a starting point We can think and feel all day long – and go nowhere. Without taking action – thought and feeling have no power. It is this idea that, to me, explains the meaning of my favorite Yoda quote, “Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” The concept of “try” doesn’t necessarily connect to action. I can try to do virtually anything I set my mind to. But it’s meaningless without the action of doing. That’s why “do” is so much more powerful. It sets you up for action. And action is the only way to make anything at all happen. Actions speak louder than words Actions have more power than thoughts and feelings. If you desire to make anything at all happen in your life – action is required. To control anything that occurs in your life - you take action. When you employ conscious awareness – mindfulness – you choose action versus inaction. And sometimes that means you choose to be inactive. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Why is action so important? Why is action so important to making anything at all happen? Because action empowers. Empowerment is how we choose our life experiences and pick what we desire to do, be, and have. When you choose to act for yourself and your life experience – you take control. It may not go how you intend for it to go – and there are always going to be outside influences you can never control - but it’s still you doing the driving. That’s why anything at all that happens is always a product of action. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Do you have something that’s been hijacking, sabotaging, or otherwise invading your thoughts and feelings? This week’s mindfulness tool takes that thing in your head you would very much like to let go of and applies action to that end. Here’s how. 1. Write it all down - on paper. Whatever the thing that you would like to let go if is – get the whole thing on paper. Put your heart and soul into it, whatever it is. Write, don’t type this. Get all the feeling attached to it, and every last detail past and present related to it onto that paper. 2. Read it. Aloud. When you read it give it all the thought and feeling like you’re pouring water from a pitcher. 3. Destroy it. Tear it to shreds, set it on fire, or do something else literal and cathartic to destroy it as completely as possible. You can do this for more than one thing separately or put many things down. I tried this myself recently and the release that came with the action felt amazing.
Author Website: https://mjblehart.com Email: author@mjblehart.com Instagram Twitter Facebook Blogs: titaniumdon.com and mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gratitude is not selfish Not to put too fine a point on it, feeling grateful and expressing gratitude is not an act of selfishness. How can I express gratitude when so many people are suffering so horridly? Because feeling grateful for things in no way disempowers anyone else. All those people who are experiencing awful things and suffering do not have their lot in life made worse when you are thankful for things. I know how hard this is. But consciousness creates reality. When we get focused on all this awfulness around us, we discuss it, we rant about it, we feel terrible seeing it, we inadvertently energize it more. When we are not grateful for what we have, material or immaterial, we haven’t much to work with to gain more. Gratitude is abundance Saying thank you and FEELING thankful is empowering. When you receive genuine thanks, doesn’t it make you feel good? Giving it is equally as powerful as receiving it. We can be grateful for a truly infinite number of things. Intangibles like air, laughter, joy, and love are no less powerful than the tangibles like sunlight, clean drinking water, coffee, the grass beneath your feet. Saying thank you for material tangibles like iPhones, people, pets, and anything else you have or desire to have is no more powerful - and an equal when partaking of an abundant universe. Gratitude is more than saying Thank You Expressing gratitude, not just saying it but feeling it, creates an overall sense of satisfaction. This puts you in a place of abundance, rather than a place of lack and scarcity. As such, when you are working on creating something new - or improving the life you already have - this has you doing so from abundance rather than lack. Gratitude is a two-way street. Not only does it open you to more abundance, satisfaction, and fulfillment, but it also opens up anyone you give it to to the same. A genuine thank you presented to another person is appreciation that appreciates. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Gratitude for what we already have – real, genuine thankfulness – empowers our conscious reality creation ability to acquire more things to be grateful for. Being grateful, and expressing it, is like any other muscle. The more you use it the stronger it gets. This week’s tool is a simple gratitude-building exercise. Once a day, either first in the morning or at the end of the day, sit down and WRITE OUT five (5) things that you are grateful for. They can be utterly simple and intangible or complex and tangible. Just write each one down. Take a moment to read each. Read it as “thank you for” or “I am grateful for”. Pause after reading it and let yourself FEEL it. Do this for a week – and see that you have many, many things for which to be grateful. Feel free to do this more often – and past the week of the Applied Guidance for Mindfulness tool usage.
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Self-sabotaging and second-guessing are infuriating Despite the effort I have been making for over a decade to live life on my own terms, choosing my own paths – there is an ongoing challenge I can never seem to shake. I recently finished reading Gary John Bishop’s Stop Doing that Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back, and now I have a much clearer view of the how and why of my self-sabotaging behaviors. Where do the self-sabotage and second-guessing come from? Mr. Bishop asserts that there are three conclusions we draw that becomes the root of self-sabotage that embed themselves into our subconscious. There, they are rooted – and jam up the works when said conclusions are challenged. Conclusion one – the self My conclusion - I am unworthy. Do I keep sabotaging myself because what I have concluded about myself is that I’m not worth it? Conclusion two – other people My conclusion - people are capricious or people are inconsistent. Conclusion three - life My conclusion - Life is an unfair uphill battle. We are nor our thoughts or feelings Second-guessing and self-sabotaging originate as thoughts. And the combination of thought and feeling gives them agency in our heads. All this plays into our subconsciousness. While we could do a deep dive and try to root it out – that’s not all that productive. Instead, we need to be here, now. Mindful. Consciously self-aware of our current, conscious thoughts, feelings, and intentions. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Borrowing from Mr. Bishop, this week’s tool is a simple process to identify the sources of your self-sabotage and second-guessing behaviors. Identify the Saboteurs You only need two minutes or so for each of these. I recommend doing them all no more than a day apart. Step 1: Take 2 or 3 deep breaths in and out to focus Step 2: Close your eyes. Step 3: Think back on a situation where you know that you sabotaged yourself. Step 4: Ask yourself, what conclusion did I make about myself that contributed to this? Step 5: Write it down At another time (preferably the next day), repeat steps 1-3, replace step 4 with this: Ask yourself, what conclusion did I make about other people that contributed to this? Then, at yet another time (preferably the next day), repeat steps 1-3, replace step 4 with this: Ask yourself, what conclusion did I make about life that contributed to this? Know this – they can’t be fixed or undone – but knowing them helps us to avoid them.
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Selfish is a matter of intent This is selfishness: You take and take, give nothing back, and don’t give a damn who you hurt in the process. You know your action is going to cause harm - but you don’t care. You know full well that your thoughts, feelings, and resulting actions are going to be bad for others. That is what selfishness is. Selfishness comes from a lack mentality. You take what you believe to be yours and leave nothing for anyone else because you believe that there is not enough, or you don’t care. Self-awareness opens you to broader awareness When you practice mindfulness you are practicing being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and the intent of your actions. That awareness makes you conscious in the here-and-now, taking control from your subconscious, unthinking mind. Being aware of yourself makes you more aware of everyone and everything else, too. Mindfulness empowers you to experience more fully and completely all that life has to offer. That is not selfish, because it allows you to pull others to the light, too. How can that be in any way selfish? This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Meditation is not for everyone. But not everyone needs a concentrated mindfulness practice of mediation when a guided, 2-minute pause will do. This entails a very simple exercise. You can do it anywhere at any time. 1. Seat yourself comfortably 2. Set a time with a chime or non-jarring alarm for 2 minutes and 5 seconds 3. Start the timer 4. Close your eyes 5. Take the deepest breath in that you can. Breathe from the diaphragm 6. Release the breath fully 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 8. Open your eyes and return to your day Anyone can find 2 minutes for deep breathing at one point or another during the day. This can calm, center, and refocus you so that you can be more mindful and self-aware.
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Self-awareness and mindfulness are one Mindfulness of your own headspace will help you be better aware of the outside world and how it impacts you. Mindfulness is a matter of being aware of yourself. To put it simply, mindfulness is recognizing, acknowledging, and knowing what is inside your own head. Mindfulness is self-awareness. It is knowing what you are thinking, how you are feeling, what you are feeling, what actions you are taking, and the intentions behind them. Recognize nobody else is in your head, heart, and soul – but you The only person who can know what you are thinking and what and how you are feeling is YOU. There is nobody else inside of your head. This is mindfulness. Awareness of your thoughts and feelings. But it’s not simply awareness, as in oh, hey that’s what’s on my mind or I am feeling how I am feeling. No, it’s also about your ability to recognize and acknowledge your thoughts, feelings, and actions. Once you have that recognition and acknowledgment, you become empowered to influence, control, alter, and change your life experience. How do I express mindfulness? The simplest and easiest way to recognize mindfulness is to ask yourself direct questions. We are constantly asking our friends, families, coworkers, even random strangers questions like these. Yet it is infrequent of us to direct these questions inwards. But asking these questions is applied mindfulness. This week’s Applied Guidance for Mindfulness Tool: Ask yourself, preferably aloud, the following direct questions or questions like these: · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · Where is my mind? · What am I thinking about? · What am I focused on? · What is my intention at this moment?
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Choosing to change No two days are ever exactly alike. I’ve come to better understand that over the years. Change, however, is the only constant in the whole Universe. I have come to realize that the best way to continuing growing, evolving, and striving to improve myself requires ongoing change. Which is a choice that I can make – or not. This quote from Socrates resonates with the why of choosing to change, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Change is the only constant in the Universe How do you adapt when it happens? The only absolutely certain constant in the Universe is change. Change will happen – sometimes slowly, sometimes instantaneously. Like it or not, change happens. Some people are very good at adapting to change when it happens. Others are less good at it. Of course, some people just don’t adapt well or at all. Why am I rebranding? The truth is that I am not getting the message I desire to across to people. Awareness for everyone is too vague. Self-Awareness for Everyone is more direct and poignant. What’s more, I need to add clarity to the message. Thus, the new tagline – Applied Guidance for Mindfulness. The intent is clarity both for myself and my listeners. Coming Friday, March 4 – The first episode of my new brand. Please tune-in and tell your friends! https://mjblehart.com (My website) https://www.amazon.com/MJ-Blehart/e/B00BKITBKQ (My Amazon Author Page) author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Are you aware of who you can and can’t please? Recognizing who you can and can’t please is a highly freeing, positive act. You may or may not be familiar with this quote attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and John Lydgate, “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.” If you are a people pleaser – this is a bitter pill to swallow. But doing so is surprisingly freeing. Like it or not – it is impossible to please everyone. And though this can be frustrating and infuriating – it’s actually a good thing. Why? Because recognizing this truth helps us to better be our genuine selves. What does being our genuine selves mean? How many times have you done something because you thought it was what someone else expected? Or you did something to accommodate someone – even though it didn’t please you in the least, nor feel all that good to do? That’s what being your genuine self is all about. It’s doing things – even for other people – from your true self. Meaning? It comes from your values and beliefs. You’re doing the thing not to just please someone – but because it’s a thing you desire to do. Please the few and yourself The reason I believe recognizing and acknowledging this is both positive and empowering is that that allows you to alter your course. Trying to please everyone will drive you mad. Because you can’t. Try though you might – not everyone can or will be pleased. This isn’t a license to be an ass or treat people poorly, or without kindness and compassion. But what it does instead allows you to stop wasting time and effort that disempowers, exhausts, or otherwise harms you. Seeing that you can’t please all the people all the time allows you to step back and say, “Sorry, I can’t,” “Not today,” “No, thank you,” or any other polite rejection. You empower yourself to work for your betterment and overall mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Conscious situational awareness Recently, I have been exploring practical mindfulness not to create change – but simply for situational awareness. That is in-the-now conscious awareness. True conscious awareness involves recognition of what’s going on inside of myself. Since I’m the only one inside of my head, heart, and soul, I alone can employ this. Where does mindfulness come from? Mindfulness comes from my sensory input combined with my thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. That makes me consciously aware – here and now, in this present moment – of my mindset/headspace/psyche self. That conscious awareness extends further inwards to my subconscious mind and my beliefs, values, and habits. Together, they help me to recognize my ego – which is who, what, and how I believe myself to be and then project to the world at large. Situational awareness is a regular necessity The important thing to note here is that practicing mindfulness is not one-and-done. It’s ongoing. Because it is utterly rooted in the moment. The now. And it only works at the time of its application. By regularly using practical mindfulness, I know myself at the moment of its employment. And that empowers me to make choices for my health, wellness, and wellbeing. Via mindfulness, I gain conscious awareness of everything that impacts my physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. And from there – I see how to find and/or create ways to push through whatever my day might hold. For your practical mindfulness Take a moment at least once a day to ask these questions aloud · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing and what’s my intention behind it?
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Reexamining mindfulness Mindfulness is conscious awareness of not just what’s happening in the world around us – but what’s going on within us. It’s being conscious and aware – here and now – of our thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. I’ve previously explored using mindfulness to make choices – like choosing to be positive or negative. But that’s not entirely practical, is it? The whole concept fails to acknowledge how much space exists between the extremes like good and bad, positive and negative, etc. Rather than employ mindfulness to recognize where we are in the present and redirect ourselves towards an extreme – just the act of being consciously aware via mindfulness is useful. Why? Because it makes us more aware of ourselves and where we are in the world outside of ourselves, too. Be here, now Mindfulness is how we can be in the present. Not to alter where, how, what, and why we are so much as being aware of where, how, what, and why we are. While we can use mindfulness to be more consciously aware of all that we are to control change – it might be more useful just for knowledge and understanding. I think maybe just knowing where we are on the cylinder between given extremes opens us to possibilities. It’s not about taking control to make a change. Instead, it’s really more about being in the present and the know. It’s using mindfulness to just exist in the now. For your mindfulness consideration Take a moment at least once a day to ask these questions aloud · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing and what’s my intention behind it? https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com https://www.amazon.com/MJ-Blehart/e/B00BKITBKQ Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Awareness and Living in the Now Living in the now allows us to only be focused on our immediate needs, our immediate surroundings, and ourselves. Living in the now lets us ultimately focus on pretty much anything and everything we want to. There was a conversation thread on Twitter. It was skewing negatively, and I decided to make a less negative statement. Someone replied to that – in a way that I found insulting. After some back and forth, a response that I received doubled down and was deeply insulting and condescending. And those are two ways to trigger me. I’m the first to admit that I’m imperfect. I make mistakes all the time. My response to the first response could have been more tactful – but I can’t change that. But what that garnered from the other person? I am using this as a lesson in the now how to better handle such a situation. There is value in the past and in thinking about the future. The past teaches us while the future gives us goals to achieve and places to go - from where we are now. Where is your mindset? One of the biggest problems with the goals I seek to attain is where I see them. I know full well that I see them ahead, eventually, or down the line. They are viewed by me as being in the future. They are something to be reached, something to be worked towards. Every single book I have read or listened to about consciousness creating reality, mindfulness, the Law of Attraction, and manifestation states that you MUST see the things you want as already yours. Right here, right now. Not “will be”, “coming soon”, “down the line”, or “in the future”, but here and now. In the present tense. You must picture them in your life right now, to give them clarity and power to consciously create them. Practicing living in the now How do you live in the now? Mindfulness. First, I need to be more aware of my self-talk. It’s important for me to check in with myself several times a day with questions such as: · How Am I? · What am I thinking? · How am I feeling? · Am I thinking about things ahead of me - or in the now? These are all part of mindfulness and are meant to make me more aware, right here and now. Simple questions, simple answers, but they are all important to consciously creating my reality and living in the now. Living in the now is imperative for finding empowerment, peace, and happiness. I cannot reclaim the past and I can’t live in tomorrow, so focusing on here and now allows me to simply BE. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How does conscious reality creation work? If you are not creating your reality consciously – you are doing so subconsciously. Consciousness creates reality because our perceptions of reality are unique. It is important to accept two truths here: · Everybody’s perception of reality is different · Reality is colored by experience Why does consciousness create reality? Because in the simple abstract derived from the two truths above - our perception and experience are going to make our reality real for us. How does consciousness create reality? Because our awareness, our understanding, and perception give birth to substance. Whether it is something observable or something imperceptible, we can build it. Every single one of us is so empowered. How Consciousness Creates Reality So how does this work? It starts very small. This requires conscious awareness – here and now. Then, via conscious awareness, we need to focus on that which we desire. See it as already done, as the only possible way, as the one and only outcome. Act as if it’s happening right now. This is how it is and will be. Individually, in our own perception of reality, we can choose to shape our reality. Rather than standing against and reacting to things we do not desire, we need to act consciously for that which we do desire. We cannot change the reality of the world at large if we do not begin by changing our own personal reality. To do so, we need to be aware of what we are thinking, how we are feeling, the actions we are taking, and the intentions we have with those actions. This is about you alone Conscious reality creation is wholly individual. It cannot be done for anyone else nor the world at large. You and I cannot change how others do things, and whether they see their reality as positive or negative. However, we can change ourselves, and our own approach to life, the Universe, and everything. When we make such choices, we empower ourselves to consciously create a desirable and better reality. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What is conscious reality creation? Reality is an illusion. “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” – Albert Einstein How can consciousness create reality? Thought, feeling, intentional action Your Subconscious is driving the bus if you are not consciously aware. A deeper look at consciousness and reality What is consciousness? It is your awareness, your senses, thoughts, and feelings. Consciousness is perception, recognition, knowledge. Awareness of your mindset/headspace/psyche self, your ego, your subconscious, and all the interconnectivity between them. What is reality? When it comes to reality this is the tangibles such as people and things we encounter. It also covers the intangible, like oxygen, subatomic particles and the like. Reality is existence, substance, actuality. This is the world we live in, but which is entirely outside of ourselves. Existence, truth, substantiality. What does it mean to create? This is building, constructing, making a thing become real. Whether it is a mathematical theory or a car, we are creators. Creation is conceiving, designing, inventing, producing. This is the process we use to build things that are both material and immaterial for ourselves on many different levels. Build, design, produce. How Does Awareness of Consciousness Create Reality? How do I use this to create my life? Ask questions: · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing? · What is my intention? Mindfulness and conscious awareness is living in the here-and-now. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The act of doing the thing Actions don’t just speak louder than words – they move everything. New Year’s Eve is almost upon us. Besides various forms of celebration people participate in around the world – lots of people make New Year’s Resolutions. The trouble with resolutions is that they are often nothing but ideas. They are made with no goalpost, no plan of action – just the idea of doing that thing. Rather than simply resolve to do this, that, or the other thing – taking action has a much greater effect. Intention to actions If there is no action set – just an idea or notion, like with a resolution – there is little intent behind it. Actions, on the other hand, planned in this way, are intentional. There is a goal, a thing to do, and an action to carry it out. It’s more powerful, more meaningful, and I think goes much further in finding and/or creating change. Taking action is an act of control. When it comes to ourselves, we have near-total control. But it’s specific in that it’s only on us. Bypass resolutions with actions When it comes to any control whatsoever – we only have ourselves. All of us are made up of ego, conscious mind, and subconscious mind. Subconscious mind is where habits, beliefs, and values live. Conscious mind is present awareness of the mindset/headspace/psyche self. Ego is who we believe we are based on the bridge between the conscious and subconscious mind – as well as how we project ourselves to the world at large. Action is one of the four elements of mindfulness, alongside thoughts, feelings, and intentions. Thus, mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions puts you in control of your actions. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Seeking peace, love, and joy this time of year The ideas of peace, love, and harmony are part of awareness for everyone - and we can use them to improve ourselves and help the people we love, too. Mindfulness makes this clear. It is your conscious awareness in the here-and-now of what’s in your head. This occurs on three levels. On the surface, the easiest level to access, it’s your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions. Knowing what you are thinking, what and how you are feeling, what you are doing, and why, tells you what you can and will attract. Conscious reality creation starts here. If you ARE content, connected, and happy – keep it up and spread the joy! This season is not easy or good for everyone Many people struggle this time of year. The holidays are not happy for all. It’s okay to not be okay. You are not alone in this. All of us are going through it. The past two years have been unprecedented and utterly insane. It’s okay to not be okay because nothing about this is acceptable or okay. We are all in this together – same storm, different boats It is okay to not be okay, but you are not alone. I, and others, are here for you to rant, vent, or just talk. If you know people who are not okay do what you can to be there for them. We are all in this together and we will get through it. Recognize that this has not been easy for anyone. But to find peace, joy, and love – it begins from within. Awareness for everyone can show the way. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What is the importance of change to awareness? The Universe is in a constant state of change – it is inevitable. You cannot stop change Nobody denies that change is scary. Humans seek comfort, be it in our homes, relationships, clothing, foods we consume, and so forth. There is a certain level of comfort in the familiar. As such, when that which we are used to changes, it can be extremely disconcerting. Change is inevitable. It cannot be stopped. So when we are embracing change, we open ourselves up to controlling it instead. Working with and accepting and embracing change Getting control of change and changing. Change ALWAYS happens. All life is, in truth, made of change. Without change – WE WOULD NOT BE. In the words of Marcus Aurelius, “Is any man afraid of change? Why what can take place without change? What then is more pleasing or more suitable to the universal nature? And canst thou take a bath unless the wood undergoes a change? And canst thou be nourished, unless the food undergoes a change? And can anything else that is useful be accomplished without change? Dost thou not see then that for thyself also to change is just the same, and equally necessary for the universal nature.” Embracing unwanted change is particularly challenging. Influencing and directing change is in your power. Taking charge You are empowered to control change and changing through Mindfulness There is no need to fear change. Consciousness creates reality. We can choose what that means for us by how we react to change. When we resist, we are bound to create a reality we do not desire. If, however, we embrace change, we might just be able to control it, and direct it for the better. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Awareness for everyone and conscious reality creation Consciousness creates reality Reality is the world in which we live Collective consciousness and the world without “The key to growth is the introduction of higher dimensions of consciousness into our awareness.” - Lao Tzu Thought, feeling, action, and intention build our lives Manifestation is the product of conscious reality creation Mindfulness and awareness of ourselves is the key "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." - Albert Einstein Can awareness create the world we live in? Improving ourselves and our lives improves the world The only real power and control we have comes from ourselves - from within “You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” – Marcus Aurelius To change the world in any way, we must begin by changing ourselves Why consciously create our world? Problems great and small can only begin to be solved from within. “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” – Albert Einstein More good in the world draws in more good to the world “Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” - Eckhart Tolle Ask yourself:
What am I thinking?
What am I feeling?
How am I feeling?
What am I doing?
What is my intention?
Awareness and mindfulness of ourselves opens all paths to creating the world https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What is Fear? Fear (from Dictionary.com) 1. noun a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real orimagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. 2. something that causes feelings of dread or apprehension; something a person is afraid of 3. anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur 4. verb to consider or anticipate (something unpleasant) with a feeling of dread or alarm 5. Living in a fear-based society Fear tends to be more about being afraid to suffer rather than the suffering that might truly occur. How do Tangible and Intangible Fears Differ? How do those “in power” use fear to control us? In what way is this a fear-based society? What are tangible fears? What are intangible fears? “Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.” – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. How Do You Face and Overcome Your Fear? There are some amazing quotes when it comes to exploring, facing, and overcoming fear. “I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.” - Litany Against Fear from Frank Herbert’s Dune “The only things we have to fear is fear itself.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” - Yoda Finding and using attitude shifters – sounds, images, smells and activities that will confront and remove the fear. Face it directly. Meditate on it. Tackle it. Use mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions to be aware. Your conscious awareness will help you find and see reason – which, in turn, will combat fear.
https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The power of saying Thank You If “I am” are the most important generators of positivity, then “thank you” are the next most important. These two words are amongst the most powerful words in all of the English language. Expressing what you are grateful for is about as pure a positive act as you can create. Recognizing the good things you have in your life and giving thanks for them is incredibly powerful. Expressing gratitude Real, genuine gratitude is ALWAYS empowering and always positive. It has a humility build into it that entitlement, braggarts, and the arrogant lack. Gratitude can be expressed for the tangible and intangible, material and immaterial, on levels great and small and everything in between. The little things in life to be thankful for are numerous, material and immaterial. So many things are available for you to be thankful for. Appreciation appreciates. Employing gratitude in practicing mindfulness Don’t you love how it feels when you are thanked for a gift, thanked for a compliment, thanked for a job well done, thanked for helping, thanking for thinking of someone? There is nothing like the power of expressing your thankfulness and gratitude to build positive energy and ultimately to find more good and happiness in your life. Be mindful of the takers By aware of takers. They do not empower, and though you can give them gratitude it will not impact them, or you, in a positive or mindful manner. Love and gratitude are the most powerful conscious reality creators to be aware of. Both are nothing but positivity and creators. As we express gratitude, to ourselves or to others, we open up to greater positive experiences and more opportunities as such to be mindful. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mindfulness is the key to awareness Being mindful is not something you can do once and then neglect. It requires constant check-ins and considerations to be taken. Mindfulness is the conscious awareness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intention – here and now, in the present. You gain recognition of your inner mindset/headspace/psyche self, which lets you better connect your conscious mind, subconscious mind, and ego. Being mindful, in a nutshell, is ultimately being aware of you. Awareness of the now changes The moment is constantly changing. These questions are some keys to recognizing awareness and awakening mindfulness: · What am I thinking? · How am I feeling? · What am I feeling? · How do I expect today to be? · What can I do to take control today? Then, throughout my day, I re-ask some or all these questions. That allows me to keep aware of myself as change happens throughout the day. Nobody is perfect When I am having a good day - and am totally conscious of my thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions - I can get a lot of work done and do some awesome things. However, when I am having a bad day – and I am overwhelmed by either happenings directly impacting me and/or world news and information – this is challenging. If I absorb too much of that negativity into my subconscious taking back conscious control becomes that much more challenging. Nobody is perfect – or – everybody is perfectly imperfect. As such, nobody is always conscious of their thoughts and feelings. Mindlessness happens – and there are times to just embrace it and let go. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why do people need to wake up? Too many people move through life with little awareness of themselves. Thus, they are – to all intents and purposes – sleepwalking. They are not mindful of their thoughts, feelings, actions, or intentions. Thus, they live subconsciously. Mindfulness and awareness Practicing mindfulness isn’t hard. And doing so keeps you awake. Mindfulness connects people to their who, what, why, where, how, and even when. This is through conscious awareness – here and now. Rather than being on autopilot and moving through life subconsciously – or asleep – you become empowered to choose your own adventure. Wake up to conscious reality creation When you are awake, you gain insight into what you can control in this life. Though it’s a limited number of things, they are all important and wholly yours – and within your head, heart, and soul. Taking that control empowers you to do virtually anything. Waking people up to be empowered allows them to seek reason and logic rather than live in fear. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode 1 Season 1 - Why Awareness for Everyone? What is awareness? From Dictionary.com: the state or condition of being aware; having knowledge; consciousness: What is the meaning of awareness in this context? Being Aware of who, what, where, how and why you are via sensory input combined with your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions Living in the now Being present. Being consciously aware of our own thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions - better connects you within and without. Asking mindful awakening questions: · What am I thinking? · What am I feeling? · How am I feeling? · What am I doing and what’s my intent? Empowerment through awareness. Taking control of the only thing you can - yourself The power of awareness Self-actualization Mindfulness Conscious reality creation Waking people up to be empowered seek reason and logic rather than live in fear. https://mjblehart.com author@mjblehart.com https://www.instagram.com/mjblehart/ https://twitter.com/MJBlehart https://www.facebook.com/blehartmj/ mjblehart.medium.com Cover artist Fe Mahoney: veinsofink2017@gmail.com and https://www.etsy.com/shop/TaliasInspirations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Awareness for Everyone is an exploration of Conscious Reality Creation, mindfulness, and employing awareness tools for optimizing life experience This is a quick introduction to the podcast and your host, MJ Blehart - writer, blogger, editor, voice artist, and 21st century philosopher. https://mjblehart.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Negative emotions are unavoidable. But we can choose how long they hold onto us, and how to work with and through them to empower ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Believe in yourself and know that you are worthy and deserving of living with joy and passion. This is a choice - and we all get to make it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Applying the KISS Principle is easy. Look at any strategy you plan and see if it’s simple or unnecessarily complicated. That's empowering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why does who you do it for matter? Because the impression you make on anyone else is outside of your control. Awareness of this matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
No plan survives contact with the enemy. But recognizing and acknowledging this means your plan is ultimately flexible and adaptable via mindfulness and employing both strategy and tactics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The most difficult truths to accept are the inevitable, ineffable ones. Three of the most common are Life is not fair, it's not easy, and death is inevitable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kindness, compassion, and empathy starts here. Become aware that changing the big picture issues starts with you and me. We cannot change the big picture without practicing mindfulness and being aware of ourselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
I accept that you and I are different in literal and figurative ways. And acceptance is incredibly empowering for everyone.How do you do you, boo? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What is normal, anyhow? This is a very loaded question. I suspect that the definition of “normal” is dependent on your life experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this iteration, “it” is that thing you are doing, desire to be doing, or otherwise take control of. Tangible or intangible, it's on you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices